Mark Zuckerberg has overtaken Bill Gates in wealth as Meta experiences an unprecedented surge of $196 billion.

Meta, which is the company behind Facebook, had a really good day on the stock market. They made a record-breaking $196 billion in just one day, which is the most any company on Wall Street has ever made in such a short time. This big win means that Mark Zuckerberg, the boss of Meta, now has a net worth of $165 billion, which is more money than Bill Gates.

To celebrate its upcoming 20th anniversary, Meta decided to buy back $50 billion worth of its own shares and give out a dividend of 50 cents per share every quarter. This news made investors really happy, and the next day, Meta’s stock price shot up by 20.3%, which is the biggest increase it’s had in a year. Now, Meta’s total value on the stock market is over $1.22 trillion.

This sudden rise in Meta’s value made Mark Zuckerberg $28 billion richer. He now owns shares worth a lot of money, which makes him one of the wealthiest people in the world. When Meta pays its first dividend in March, Zuckerberg will also get around $174 million in cash.

Even though dividends are usually given out by older, slower-growing companies, Meta is doing it to show that it’s a serious player in the business world. However, some experts think the amount they’re giving out is just a small gesture.

Before this big win, Meta had a bad day where it lost over $200 billion in value. That was the biggest loss any US company has ever seen in the stock market. But they bounced back with this huge gain, beating the previous record set by Amazon earlier in the year.

This news is especially good for Mark Zuckerberg, who owns a lot of Meta shares. He could be getting around $175 million every quarter from the dividend plan. The stock market has been doing well lately, especially for companies working on artificial intelligence like Meta, Nvidia, Microsoft, and Broadcom. And with this latest jump, Meta’s stock is up by 35% in 2024.