Zuckerberg’s estimated net worth climbed to $266.4bn on Thursday after Meta shares jumped 4.5 per cent to close at $777.59, their highest level of the year.
The latest rise came amid growing investor enthusiasm around Meta’s artificial intelligence strategy, including the company’s personal AI agent, Muse.
Zuckerberg’s wealth has risen rapidly in recent days. His fortune increased by about $25bn on Monday alone as investors responded positively to developments surrounding Muse.
The Meta chief then overtook Google co-founder Sergey Brin on Wednesday to claim fifth place on the billionaire rankings before moving past Dell a day later.
Meta shares have gained 17.8 per cent since the beginning of the year, with the stock receiving additional momentum following the release of Muse earlier this month.
Muse has also attracted significant consumer attention, recently climbing to the top of the App Store’s free-app rankings and surpassing OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
The surge in Meta’s market value has translated directly into a substantial increase in Zuckerberg’s personal wealth because of his large ownership stake in the company.
While Zuckerberg’s fortune rose, Dell’s wealth declined by almost $5bn on Thursday to approximately $265.4bn.
Dell Technologies shares fell 2.5 per cent to close at $536.02, extending their decline to a fifth consecutive trading session.
Despite the recent weakness, Dell’s stock has delivered a substantial gain over the longer term, rising about 325 per cent since the beginning of the year from approximately $127 per share.
The movement in Dell’s shares follows an extraordinary period for the company, whose fortunes have been closely linked to the surge in demand for computing hardware and infrastructure required to support the global artificial intelligence boom.
Dell’s net worth also climbed sharply earlier in September, briefly pushing him into second place on the Forbes billionaire ranking after he overtook Google co-founder Larry Page.
Dell Technologies reported record revenue of $47bn in its latest earnings report, including $16.4bn from its AI server business.
The results have underscored the enormous demand for servers and other computing infrastructure needed to develop and operate increasingly sophisticated AI systems.
Meta, meanwhile, has been pursuing a different part of the AI opportunity by investing heavily in software, AI models and consumer-facing products.
The Facebook parent company reported a 28 per cent increase in second-quarter revenue to $60.8bn, demonstrating the continued strength of its core advertising business while it increases spending on artificial intelligence.
Meta expects capital expenditure of between $130bn and $145bn this year as Zuckerberg accelerates investment in data centres, computing infrastructure and other AI-related capabilities.
The contrasting fortunes of Zuckerberg and Dell highlight how quickly the AI investment cycle is reshaping the global wealth rankings.
Dell has benefited from the hardware spending underpinning the AI boom, while Zuckerberg’s wealth has risen alongside investor expectations that Meta can turn its substantial AI investments into new products, users and revenue streams.
For now, the two billionaires remain separated by a relatively narrow margin, with fluctuations in their respective company share prices capable of rapidly changing their positions on the global wealth rankings.