Facebook has become one of the highest-valued companies in the world after a stock surge saw it leapfrog General Electric to join the ranks of the top ten companies on the S&P stock market index.
And quietly, in the process, its founder Mark Zuckerberg has become the ninth richest person in the world.
Zuckerberg leap-frogged Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of Ikea and Sweden’s richest man and his steady ascent of Bloomberg’s list of the world’s richest continues apace. Just a few weeks ago, he slipped past four members of the Walton family to become the world’s 11th richest man.
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Zuckerberg is now worth an estimated $42.9 billion, shy of the fortune owned by Amazon founder Larry Bezos, who is worth $43.5 billion, and that of Oracle database founder Larry Ellison, who is worth $43.7 billion.
Facebook is now the eighth most profitable company in the world with a market value of $274.95 billion. Apple still leaves all other companies on the S&P trailing in its wake, with a market value of $760.86 billion.
