Meet man who became billionaire at 23, is now richer than Oracle's Larry Ellison, has this Mukesh Ambani connection...

On Monday, (January 6), Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg surpassed Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison to become the third-richest individual in the world, according to Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaire List. This shift follows a competitive exchange between the two tech leaders that took place on January 3.

Zuckerberg's net worth increased by over 4% to reach $217.7 billion after the market closed on Monday, while Ellison's wealth decreased by 0.3%, bringing his total to $209 billion. These fluctuations in their fortunes were influenced by changes in their respective companies' stock prices; Zuckerberg’s Meta shares closed at $630.20, reflecting a 4% rise, whereas Ellison’s Oracle shares fell by 0.3% to $165.78.

The two billionaires had previously swapped positions in the rankings just days earlier, with Ellison briefly holding the third spot before this latest update.

Elon Musk continues to hold the title of the richest person globally, with a net worth of $425.2 billion, followed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos at $241 billion.

Mark Zuckerberg, born on May 14, 1984, in New York, co-founded Facebook in 2004 while studying at Harvard University. Launched in a dorm room with friends Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes, Facebook quickly became the largest social network globally. By 2007, Zuckerberg became the youngest billionaire at the age of 23. He took Facebook public in May 2012, marking one of the largest tech IPOs then. Since then, he has consistently ranked among the wealthiest individuals in the world. In 2022, Facebook generated $117 billion in revenue and had approximately 3.7 billion monthly users.

Zuckerberg holds about 13% of Meta Platforms' shares. His journey began with a $500,000 angel investment from venture capitalist Peter Thiel in 2004. The platform was officially named Facebook in 2005 when Yahoo attempted to acquire it for $1 billion—a proposal that Zuckerberg declined. In 2012, Facebook's user base surpassed one billion users. The company made its largest acquisition in 2014 by purchasing WhatsApp for $19 billion, a deal that remains unmatched by any other tech giant.

In October 2021, Facebook rebranded itself as Meta Platforms to reflect its focus on developing social experiences across various applications and its ambitions in the metaverse. Meta now includes Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

Zuckerberg had attended Mukesh Ambani's son Anant Ambani's pre-wedding festivities in Jamnagar last year. The CEO then shared an image on Instagram with his wife Priscilia Chan captioned “Love an Indian wedding. Congrats to Anant and Radhika!”.