The new year is off to a great start for America’s billionaires.
Major market indices are up 2% year-to-date, continuing the major stock gains of last year.
Among those profiting from the continued stock surge is Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The 33-year-old has earned $4.16 billion since 2018 began, with company shares climbing more than 5%.
That’s been enough to vault Zuckerberg from 5th to 4th on Bloomberg‘s billionaires list (where he’s been as recently as 2016). He’s now worth nearly $77 billion.
Yet, in a Facebook post last week, Zuckerberg seemed to express concern about his company’s status.
“With the rise of a small number of big tech companies—and governments using technology to watch their citizens—many people now believe technology only centralizes power rather than decentralizes it,” he wrote. He added he also hopes to better enforce Facebook’s posting policies and reduce abuse.
Meanwhile, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos—who has gained the most so far this year—is still the richest person on Bloomberg‘s billionaires list. He’s earned $4.71 billion since Jan. 2 and is now worth $104 billion.
The top 5 wealthiest people according to Bloomberg are now as follows:
- Jeff Bezos: $104 billion
- Bill Gates: $93.3 billion
- Warren Buffett: $86.4 billion
- Mark Zuckerberg: $76.9 billion
- Amancio Ortega: $76.7 billion
In total, the 7 wealthiest Americans have earned more than $17 billion so far this year. The top 25 wealthiest Americans on Bloomberg‘s list now account for more than 1% of all household wealth in the U.S., according to MONEY‘s calculations.
