Washington, DC – Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg has moved into fourth place on the list of the world’s richest people. He surpassed Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. This comes after a sharp drop in the e-commerce giant’s stock following the release of disappointing financial results and ambitious spending plans for 2026. Amazon’s stock fell by about 9.3% to nearly $202 per share in early trading on Friday. This happened following earlier declines in both pre-market and after-hours trading. The drop followed the company’s announcement of earnings of $1.95 per share for the last quarter. This was below analysts’ expectations of $1.97. Despite this, revenue exceeded estimates, reaching $213.4 billion.
Spending $200 billion during 2026
Investor anxiety was heightened by CEO Andy Jassey’s announcement that Amazon expects capital expenditures of up to $200 billion by 2026. This was driven by what he described as “strong demand” for artificial intelligence products, advanced chips, robotics, and low-orbit satellites. This figure is about 36% higher than previous Wall Street estimates. Previously, analysts had projected spending of approximately $146.6 billion.
Strong performance for Meta stock
According to Forbes magazine, the decline in Amazon’s stock price led to a decrease in Jeff Bezos’s net worth by approximately $16 billion, or 6.9%. This brought his total wealth down to $218.9 billion. As a result, this dropped him to fifth place globally. In contrast, Mark Zuckerberg’s wealth increased to approximately $226.6 billion. This was boosted by the strong performance of MetaTrader’s stock following better-than-expected financial results.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, remains at the top of the list of the world’s richest people with a net worth estimated at $839.4 billion. He is followed by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Their net worths are estimated at $267.3 billion and $246.6 billion, respectively.
This shift in the rankings of the world’s richest people comes amidst a fierce race among technology giants to invest in artificial intelligence. It is estimated that Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft plan to spend a combined $610 billion during 2026. This is an indication of an unprecedented expansion phase in this sector.
