back to article Zuckerberg leapfrogs Jobs on Americans' rich list

Facebook boydroid Mark Zuckerberg has more pennies in his piggy bank than Apple boss Steve Jobs, according to the latest Forbes rich list. According to Forbes 2010 rich list of the wealthiest Americans, 26-year-old Zuckerberg now has a net worth of $6.9bn. Of which $4bn was added to his personal treasury this year, pushing him …

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  1. hplasm

    Are ther no nice guys with lots of cash?

    This seems like a game of leap-twat.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Jobs Horns

      Listen to some Iron Maiden for an explanation

      Only the Good die young...

      1. bluesxman
        Badgers

        RE: Only the Good die young...

        Don't lie, I think you're actually secretly referring to Billy Joel :-P

    2. Chris Miller

      What about #1 & #2?

      You may not like the way Bill Gates made his billions, but with his decision to give away the vast bulk of his fortune (and devote considerable amounts of his time to ensuring it's spent effectively) as well as persuading his pal Warren Buffett to follow suite, he's almost certainly done more good for more people than all the assorted commentards on ElReg.

      Makes him a good guy in my book - certainly better than those who spunk it away on MiGs, ocean-going yachts and Japanese-style mansions.

      1. Paul 129
        FAIL

        @Chris Miller

        Where did he get his money?

        If the money was earned fairly I would have less of an issue. With the number of other businesses MS has cheated, ripped off, and locked out, well we have all had to pay more for less. Governments reduce the services they provide, healthcare, public transport etc and increase taxes, whilst other businesses simply charge more to the end consumer.

        We would all be better off if there MS played fair, but they havn't. Even knowing you may not use a single bit of MS software, you are still paying for their state sanctioned criminal activities.

        SUCKER!

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @hplasm

    yes there is a nice guy on the list, it may interest you know that I came in on the list at number 9128567432, with 32 pence. Would you like a glass of water with that?.

  3. bluesxman
    Unhappy

    Nice guys finish last

    That is all.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Grenade

    Why am I reminded ...

    of Oscar Wildes comment about the unspeakable in pursuit of the inedible ?

  5. JaitcH
    FAIL

    He might be rich, on paper but ....

    it still doesn't change the fact that he is a prize jerk, and not even all the gold in Fort Knox would correct that.

    P.S. Has that claim against The Jerk claiming an interest in FB ever been settled? He night have t share his money, yet!

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Newsflash

    I spoke to Jobs, Gates and Zukerberg last night and they've all agreed to give their money to me.

    ...so I'll be #1 on the next list!

  7. gotes
    Headmaster

    Americans

    I'm sure plenty of other pedants before me have already pointed out, it is a list of the richest people in America, not the richest Americans.

  8. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

    Lies, damn lies and Wall St valuations?

    "private equity firms valued Facebook at around $23bn"

    And we all now how reliable Wall St's analysis of the value of assets is.

    1. Mark 65

      Valuations

      Yep, it's the same old shit and always happens with illiquid assets - your superannuation/pension fund will be doing the same thing. Some assets get an independent valuation based on cashflows/profits and/or similar sales of like assets (direct property such as office blocks or shopping malls) and shit like this gets valued by the last buy-in.

      So if some prick buys 1% of Facebook for $1bn then they say it's worth $100bn. It's utter shit, but that's what happens.

  9. nickrw

    In other news...

    ...a single throwing star was found embedded in Zuckerberg's front door this morning.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    what happened to that 'ownership' controversy?

    Remember the guy who claimed he owned a stake in Faceslap for work Z had done while at college? That story just seems to have disappeared. I was really hoping it was for real, was it all a scam?

  11. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    @@hplasm

    you're in 9 billionth (ish), eh? What are the 3 billion entries on the list directly above you before you start enumerating the rest of the human race?

    1. Restricted Access
      Boffin

      Animals have money too...

      The World's Ten Richest Pets are as follows:

      10. Brownie, cat, $4.1 million

      9. Hellcat, cat, $4.1 million

      8. Pepe Le Pew, cat, $6.2 million

      7. Ani, cat, $6.2 million

      6. Frankie, dog, $6.2 million

      5. Gigoo, chicken, $10 million

      4. Trouble, dog $12 million

      3. Tobey Rimes, dog, $92 million

      2. Kalu the chimp, $109 million

      1. Gunther IV, dog, $372 million

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Joke

      3 billion ants

      The 3 billions above him are all ants

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Yes, but who is the one that actually produces anything worthwhile?

    I don't like Steve Jobs public persona very much. Don't know a thing about the guy personally. I think Apple make a very fine operating system and they have a willingness to push technology forward. If they fail, they'll keep trying. I don't own any Apple products, though, and haven't in years. I am not sure whether this is sadly or not, as I enjoy what I do use just fine. What I'm saying is, Steve Jobs runs a company that is responsible for releasing extremely useful products, in a very real and tangible sense. Sure, they've made some setbacks, but all companies led by draconian figureheads do - it's also why they're worth billions of dollars. This despite the fact that their stock is grossly overvalued and their market capitalization grossly overestimated. In the end, a fantastic company led by a guy who shouldn't really be allowed to interact with the public unless he's on the short end of PR's leash.

    On the other hand, Mark Zuckerberg is worth $6.9 theoretical internet dollars. Money earned by stealing someone else's ideas and turning it into a company that COULD, MAYBE make money SOMEDAY, by DUPING half a billion idiots into turning themselves into ADVERTISING CONTENT. It is quite possibly the greatest sell of the last decade, as Zuck has managed to trick nearly a tenth of the world's population (just over a third of the internet using populace, right?) into using and thousands of programmers into developing for a product made by a company which produces absolutely fuckall. Not only that, but he's managed to trick investors out of billions upon billions of dollars simply because they're either naive, stupid twats or hoping to get lucky off the one internet payday and Zuck's more than willing to help them part with their money. The guy's probably not all that smart and he's definitely more than a little lucky, but he (or, at least, the people he's surrounded himself with) knows what it takes to make money (this is far different than succeeding, mind you) in Web 2.0. Lastly, he's a god awful and insufferable jackass that is probably doing far more harm than he is good at this point to his own company and should probably be stuffed in a hole and not let back out until he learns that he's only popular (and, thereby, rich) until the next best thing comes along and insulting everybody from the investors to the userbase is not the best way to ingratiate yourself to an extremely fickle audience.

    Now, with all that having been said, Steve Jobs has long since made his mark on the world. You could probably blame his ego for the fact that he hasn't, and likely won't until he's dead, stop, but I'm willing to bet he's got one or two more iPods or iPhones up his sleeve (cue teeth gnashing and grimaces). Had he stopped when he was ejected from Apple he'd still be remembered fondly - maybe even have a BBC special made about him. The fact that he came back and not only turned the company around but made it far more successful (real or imaginary, you choose) than any of its competitors has cemented his place in history.

    Mark Zuckerberg has only been around long enough to prove that he knows how to manipulate what is quite possibly the most easily manipulated of all bubbles in this country. When it - and with it Facebook - goes pop, Zuck won't be anymore memorable than Tom Anderson or Jonathan Abrams. He'll be even less memorable should Facebook find itself playing catchup to a competitor (like Myspace is now) or, what I hope is far, far more likely, the vast internet using populace together grow out of the social network novelty. In the end, when your product is merely a platform or vehicle for advertising, and not really a product at all, odds are you'll face failure far sooner than you'd like.

    Money can buy a lot of things, but one thing it can't buy is a legacy. Hope your billions comfort you, Zuck, because all your supposed friends won't (do you actually think you've made any REAL ones since Harvard?). At least, they won't any farther than the short reach to your wallet, bitch.

    1. asiaseen

      The words "dotcom bubble"

      have a certain resonance

    2. Mark 65

      Investors

      For those that got in early it's like buying a call option with no expiry - it won't have cost them that much compared to what future investors may need to pay for a similar stake and it could either make them very rich or expire worthless. For venture capitalists you can bet there's big tax breaks on the sunken funds.

    3. Ted Dannington
      Happy

      Oh Noes A Comedy Title

      This is not a bubble. This is how life as we know it is going to continue. Nobody is going to do to Facebook what Facebook "did" to MySpace because the people now using Facebook and giving it the bigger status were never using MySpace in the first place. They have a platform which works for them, and aren't jumpship sorts, always looknig for what's next. They are everyday tech-un-savvy sorts. Unless Facebook does something to turn its audience off, its audience will stay there indefinitely. The in-crown and focus of attention may shift to some bright new darlings but Facebook is the defacto social network for your average normo.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Often attributed by urban legend to Larry Ellison talk to Harward Business School

    Look to your left, you see a loser, look to your right - yet another loser, loser in front, loser behind and you are also a loser. You know why - because you are sitting here and listening to a dropout.

  14. vincent himpe

    Steve WANTED to be 42 !

    now he is the answer to the ultimate question on life the universe and everything ... time to reboot the universe i guess...

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Pint

    I wanna be a billionaire..

    ..So fricking* bad,

    Buy all of the things I never had

    I wanna be on the cover of

    Forbes magazine, Smiling

    next to Opra and the Queen

    (all together now..)

    * Radio One clean version

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Who cares?

    Until one of them buys me a house and a new lotus exige to go with it, it doesn't really matter. It's just numbers

  17. WoodyUK
    Stop

    Oops

    All that money and.........

    Service Unavailable - DNS failure

    The server is temporarily unable to service your request. Please try again later.

    Reference #11.168a3554.1285272445.367bcf56

    From their site!!!!

  18. The Envoy
    Pint

    Old guys, guys and even more guys

    I am pleased to see that sex-wise status quo and tradtion is upheld with regard to who's bringing home the bacon.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Ummm

    "private equity firms valued Facebook at around $23bn"

    !=

    "pennies in his piggy bank"

    For me a rich person is someone with loads of physical cash (either in a too-big-to-fail bank or stuffed in a very large mattress) - i.e. as liquid as you can get.

    The fact that all of these peoples worth swing around like yoyo's JUST with the market says it all. It's not 'real' until you cash out.

    And if you do want to cash out? For these big players with monolithic holdings (e.g. Zuckerberg) trying to offload that holding will be a significant market event, and you won't actually get back what it was 'worth', as supply will temporarily match or beat demand, and the market will see such a withdrawal as a sign of lack of confidence in the company, and thus beat the stock down etc.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Boffin

    Re: Nice guys finish last

    As a bona fide nice guy, I've never found that to be an issue.

  21. Wpgwill
    FAIL

    Title here...

    A companies value is unknown until it is actually put on the market, period. Facebook just recently became profitable IIRC.

    And all valuations are based on the assumption it never becomes less profitable or less popular, which seems perfectly reasonable.

  22. Bobajobbob

    23billion my @rse

    friendsreunited.com

    ....

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