Mark Zuckerberg Is World’s Richest Jew
Image by Getty Images
Mark Zuckerberg is the sixth richest person in the world, and the richest Jew, after accumulating more wealth than anyone else in the past year.
Eleven of the 50 richest people in the world are Jewish, according to the 30th annual Forbes billionaires list released Tuesday. The list features five Jews in the top 15 and seven in the top 25.
Zuckerberg, 31, added $11.2 billion to his net wealth, giving him a total fortune of $44.6 billion and moving him up to No. 6 on the list from No. 16 last year. The surge sends the Facebook founder past last year’s richest Jew, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, and runner-up, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Ellison is the seventh richest person overall with a net worth of $43.6 billion, and Bloomberg is No. 8 with $40 billion. Ellison’s net worth dropped over $10 billion, from $54.2 billion last year, while Bloomberg’s wealth increased from about $35.5 billion.
Zuckerberg, who is still one of the youngest billionaires, announced last December that he and his wife, Priscilla Chan, will donate 99 percent of their shares in the social media company over the course of their lifetimes.
Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are Nos. 12 and 13 on the list with $35.2 billion and $34.4 billion, respectively.
Sheldon Adelson, the casino magnate and influential Republican donor, saw his wealth drop to $25.2 billion from $31.4 billion last year, falling to No. 22 on the list.
Hedge fund manager George Soros ($24.9 billion), Dell founder and CEO Michael Dell ($19.8 billion), Brazilian-Jewish banker Joseph Safra ($17.2 billion), investor Carl Icahn ($17 billion) and hedge fund manager James Simons ($15.5 billion) are the other Jews in the top 50.
While Jewish women are far outnumbered by their male counterparts, several are billionaires, including Israeli businesswoman Shari Arison ($3.9 billion), Pritzker family scion Karen Pritzker ($3.8 billion), Lynn Schusterman ($3.4 billion), Joan Tisch ($3.3 billion) and Gap co-founder Doris Fisher ($2.6 billion).
Sheryl Sandberg makes the cut with a net worth of $1.2 billion. The influential Facebook COO and “Lean In” author donated about $31 million of Facebook stock to multiple charities earlier this year.
The non-Jewish Bill Gates remains at the top of the list — where he has been for the past three years, and 17 of the past 22 — with a net worth of $75 billion.
Forbes found 1,810 billionaires worldwide, down from the 1,826 a year ago.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
