Zuckerberg is world's 5th richest person

Following Facebook's second quarter earnings report that showed the company's stocks hit record high, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has achieved a personal milestone too, becoming the world's fifth richest person.

According to a report in Fortune on Thursday, Zuckerberg's net worth hit $72.7 billion on Thursday. This increase of more than $3 billion sent him past Mexico's Carlos Slim to become the world's fifth-richest man.

"Zuckerberg's wealth is largely tied up in Facebook stock, meaning it rises and falls along with the company's shares," the report noted.

The social networking giant has been showing positive results since the beginning of 2017. Its shares have risen more than 50 per cent and reached two billion monthly users across the globe.

According to Forbes' real-time rankings of the world's billionaires, Amazon's Jeff Bezos overtook Bill Gates to become the richest person in the world.

Bezos, who is also Chairman and Chief Executive of the Seattle-based company, was worth almost $91 billion after Amazon's share price rose more than one per cent in morning trading in New York, the Independent reported.

That has put his fortune ahead of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates's. The latter has a net worth of around $90.7 billion and has been at the top of Bloomberg's rich list since 2013.

--IANS

qd/in