5. Mark Zuckerberg
- Age: 37
- Residence: Palo Alto, Calif.
- Co-founder, CEO, and Chair: Facebook (FB)
- Net Worth: $97 billion
- Facebook Ownership Stake: 13% ($138 billion)
- Other Assets: $3.35 billion in cash and $225 million in real estate
In 2004, while a student at Harvard University, Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook with classmates Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes. In order to devote all of his attention to his expanding company, Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard as Facebook started to be utilized at other campuses. As of Q1 2021, Facebook has more over 2.8 billion monthly active users under Zuckerberg’s leadership.
The largest social networking site in the world, Facebook allows users to make personal profiles, connect with friends and family, join or start groups, and do a lot more. Since using the website is free, the majority of the business’s income comes from advertising.
Other brands that are owned by Facebook (the company) include the photo-sharing app Instagram, which it acquired in 2012; the cross-platform mobile messaging service WhatsApp; the maker of virtual reality headsets, Oculus; Workplace, its platform for business connectivity; Portal, its line of video calling devices; and Novi, its digital wallet for the Diem payment system.
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative was established in 2015 by Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, with each of them acting as co-CEO. Their nonprofit organization works to improve access to and the caliber of education, to reform the criminal justice and immigration systems in the United States, to increase housing affordability, and ultimately to eradicate all illnesses.
6. Warren Buffett
- Age: 91
- Residence: Omaha, Nebraska
- CEO: Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)
- Net Worth: $96 billion
- Berkshire Hathaway Ownership Stake: 38.001% ($103 billion total)
- Other Assets: Wells Fargo & Co. equity ($76.6 million public assets), U.S. Bancorp equity ($50.2 million public assets), Seritage Growth Properties equity ($38 million public assets), and $1.10 billion in cash
Warren Buffett, the most well-known living value investor, filed his first tax return in 1944 when he was 14 years old, disclosing his profits from his childhood paper route. In 1962, he made his first investment in Berkshire Hathaway, a textile business, and by 1965, he had acquired the majority of the company’s shares. In 1967, he extended the business to include investments and insurance. Currently worth half a trillion dollars, Berkshire Hathaway’s shares traded for more than $410,000 per share in the middle of 2021.
Buffett, widely regarded as the “Oracle of Omaha,” amassed the majority of his wealth by investing in shares of businesses with transparent business models. Buffett has chosen a more conservative approach, only purchasing from well-established firms that are simpler to grasp, such as IBM and Apple, while many investors have been pouring money into tech businesses. He is a well-known opponent of Bitcoin. Over the years, Buffett has also directly acquired a sizable number of businesses, such as Dairy Queen, Duracell, GEICO, and Kraft Heinz.
Buffett has used a large portion of his money for causes other than investment. Buffett donated $41 billion between 2006 and 2020, with the majority going to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation or his kids’ organizations. Together with Bill Gates, Buffett introduced the Giving Pledge in 2010.
