Mark Zuckerberg Becomes World's Sixth Richest Person As Facebook Shares Soar

Facebook chief executive and founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Facebook FB +13.38% CEO Mark Zuckerberg surpassed Oracle ORCL +2.86% Chairman Larry Ellison to become the sixth richest person in the world in after-hours trading on Wednesday. Zuckerberg’s net worth increased $4.85 billion to $46.25 billion, as Facebook stock climbed 12% after the markets closed in response to Facebook’s strong quarterly earnings report. That puts Zuckerberg more than $2.5 billion dollars ahead of Ellison, who has a net worth of $43.6 billion.

During Wednesday’s earning call, Facebook announced that it had beat revenue and earnings forecasts for the fourth quarter 2015. Revenue was up 52% in the fourth quarter, with mobile revenue accounting for 80% of the total $5.84 billion in revenue. Facebook’s user growth increased 17% in the past year.

At the age of 31, Zuckerberg is the youngest of the world’s 10 wealthiest people. In September 2015, when Forbes released its annual Forbes 400 List, Zuckerberg became one of the 10 richest people in the United States for the first time. He’s now the 4th richest in the United States and 6th richest in the world. Zuckerberg first appeared on Forbes’ ranking of the 400 richest people in America in September 2009 with a net worth of $2 billion, more than two years before Facebook’s IPO in May 2012.

In December 2015, Zuckerberg pledged to donate 99% of his Facebook shares to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative during the course of his lifetime.