How Much Money Would Americans Get If Mark Zuckerberg Gave Out His Meta Shares?
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Andrew Lisa
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Molly Sullivan
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According to Forbes, Mark Zuckerberg is more than $200 billion poorer than Elon Musk. However, his $266.6 billion fortune is still big enough to make him the second-richest person in the world.
The Facebook founder and his wife, Priscilla Chan, have publicly pledged to give away 99% of their Meta holdings as they work to end, cure or manage all diseases by 2100.
But how big is Zuckerberg’s stake in Meta, and what if, instead of ending sickness, he chose to give an equal share of his company stock to every person in America as his philanthropic mission?
A 13% Share of a Nearly $2 Trillion Company
Meta has a market capitalization (market cap) of $1.96 trillion, making it one of just 11 companies in the world worth 13 figures.
Market cap is a metric that measures a publicly traded company’s value by multiplying its stock price by the number of outstanding shares. As of Sept. 21, Meta trades at roughly $778 per share, and Forbes estimates that Zuckerberg owns approximately 13% of the company’s stock.
That makes his share worth $255 billion, accounting for all but a measly $11.6 billion of Zuckerberg’s fabulous fortune.
Zuckerberg Could Give You — and Everyone Else in the U.S. — About $750
According to Data Commons, the U.S. is home to a population of 340.11 million people. If Zuckerberg were to divvy up his 13% share of Meta among all of them equally, everyone in America would get $749.76.
It Depends on Which Day He Starts Feeling Generous
This number changes by the minute, though. Remember, market cap is a company’s stock price multiplied by the number of outstanding shares, and share prices fluctuate all day, every day. On April 21, for example, Facebook was trading at $487 — 37.4% less than its price on September 21. On that day, Zuckerberg’s 13% was worth just $159.63 billion, which would have left every American a dramatically reduced — but still free — $469.35 each.
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