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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's wealth increased by $10 billion to $87 billion (₹7.11 lakh crore), amid layoffs of thousands of employees in recent times. On Thursday, shares of Meta rose 14% on Thursday after the social media giant reported revenue of $28.6 billion in the first quarter of this year. Zuckerberg's wealth has risen by the highest margin in more than a year, making him the 12th-richest person on the planet according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The 38-year-old tech chief makes most of his fortune from his 13% stake in Meta, Business Insider reported. However, Zuckerberg is known for his humble lifestyle. This despite generous spending on Hawaiian real estate and Italian sports cars. The Harvard dropout's wealth is in stark contrast to 2022, when his fortune plummeted by $40 billion in the first nine months of the year. That had left it 20th on Bloomberg's list last September.
The depletion of wealth has been blamed on Meta's expensive foray into the Metaverse and the industry-wide tech crisis. In November, the Facebook co-founder's wealth hit a low of $35 billion in November of last year.
According to the report, Meta is expected to cut 10,000 jobs between March and May this year and will not hire for 5,000 open positions. These layoffs are in addition to the 11,000 job cuts implemented by the company last November.
But Zuckerberg isn't giving up his metaverse ambitions. He told investors that a narrative has developed that his company is moving away from the metaverse vision, which is not accurate. He said the company has been focused on artificial intelligence and the metaverse for years.
