Mark Zuckerberg's net worth has grown over $40 billion in the last year alone. Here's how the 36-year-old Facebook CEO makes and spends his $114 billion fortune.

Updated

2021-04-19T19:41:03Z

Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan

Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg.
AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
  • Mark Zuckerberg's fortune passed $100 billion last year, making him one of eight centi-billionaires.
  • Zuckerberg drives an affordable car and wears basic clothes, but appears to splurge on real estate.
  • Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, also invest in childhood education and medical research.
  • See more stories on Insider's business page.

It's been a challenging year for Mark Zuckerberg.

He's testified before lawmakers on multiple occasions, attempted to quash coronavirus misinformation on Facebook, and suspended President Donald Trump from the platform. And earlier this month, 533 million Facebook users' personal data and phone numbers were leaked online.

At the same time, Zuckerberg is richer than he's ever been. Last summer, after Facebook launched an Instagram feature to compete with TikTok in the US, Zuckerberg's personal net worth reached over $100 million for the first time.

These days, his fortune has reached $114 billion.

Keep reading to learn more about how the Facebook cofounder makes and spends his centibillion-dollar fortune.

Tanza Loudenback and Taylor Nicole Rogers contributed to an earlier version of this story.

In May 2012, eight years after its founding, Facebook debuted on the New York Stock Exchange. At the time, it was the biggest technology IPO in history.

Facebook Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg is seen on a screen televised from their headquarters in Menlo Park moments after their IPO launch in New York May 18, 2012.
Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Source: Business Insider

Most of Zuckerberg's fortune is derived from his 13% stake in Facebook. While Facebook spent more than $25 million on him in 2020 alone, his take-home pay is just $1.

Getty

Source: Bloomberg, Business Insider

Despite his status as one of the richest tech moguls, the 36-year-old Harvard dropout leads a low-key lifestyle with his wife, Priscilla Chan, and their two young daughters.

Taylor Hill/Getty Images

Like many other Silicon Valley stalwarts, Zuckerberg doesn't dress in flashy suits — he keeps things simple in jeans, t-shirts, and sweaters. But they're reportedly much more expensive than they look, retailing for hundreds, and even thousands, of dollars.

Charles Platiau/Reuters

Source: Business Insider, GQ

Zuckerberg is known for driving relatively inexpensive cars. He's been seen in an Acura TSX and a Honda Fit, both of which are valued at or under $30,000.

Getty Images/Kevork Djansezian

Sources: Business Insider, CNBC

He's also been spotted driving a black Volkswagen Golf GTI, a car that he bought well after making his fortune. That car would cost about $30,000 new.

Tony Avelar/AP

Source: Business Insider

But he has dropped serious cash on at least one sports car: an Italian Pagani Huayra that sells for about $1.3 million.

Mark Zuckerberg and a Pagani Huayra. Not Zuckerberg's actual car.
Charles Platiau/Reuters and Norbert Aepli/Wikimedia/CC 2.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2015-03-03_Geneva_Motor_Show_3249.JPG

Source: Business Insider; Yahoo

The next year, Zuckerberg began buying the properties surrounding his home, spending more than $30 million to acquire four homes, with plans to level them and rebuild.

Steve Jennings/Getty

Source: San Francisco Chronicle, CNBC

In 2014, the billionaire's real-estate portfolio jumped the Pacific when he spent $100 million on two properties on the island of Kauai: the Kahu'aina Plantation, a 357-acre former sugarcane plantation, and Pila'a Beach, a 393-acre property with a white-sand beach.

A beach in Kauai, Hawaii.
Jennifer McDermott/AP

Source: Business Insider, Forbes

Zuckerberg has also shelled out for two lakefront properties on Lake Tahoe, which cost a combined $59 million. One of the houses, called the Brushwood Estate, spans 5,233 square feet on six acres of land. The property features a guest house and a private dock.

Listings/Youtube

Source: Business Insider, SF Gate

When Zuckerberg buys properties, he tends to buy the other homes surrounding it for privacy reasons, just as he did in Palo Alto.

AP

Source: Business Insider

But Zuckerberg's travel mostly ground to a halt in 2020. He appeared to spend a lot of his time in Hawaii, riding a $12,000 electric surfboard and kayaking with his family.

—New York Post (@nypost) July 19, 2020

Source: Business Insider, Daily Mail

But ultimately, opulence and luxury are just a blip on Zuckerberg's radar. In fact, his main priority seems to be giving his money away, rather than spending it.

Justin Sullivan/Getty

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is a philanthropic organization Zuckerberg founded with his wife in 2015 focused on "personalized learning, curing disease, connecting people, and building strong communities." CZI has awarded roughly $2 billion in grants over the years.

AP

Source: Business Insider, CZI

CZI is invested in tackling both local and global issues. In 2020, for example, the organization poured $4.2 million into a jobs program for residents of Kauai and committed $1 million to help the region battle the coronavirus. CZI has also contributed millions in the last year to causes like criminal justice reform and affordable housing.

Beck Diefenbach/Reuters

Source: Business Insider, CZI

Zuckerberg and Chan have also poured billions into research focused on curing the world's diseases by the end of the century. In order to accomplish this lofty goal, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative launched a nonprofit called Biohub to start looking into the cure for disease, including research on genomics, infectious diseases, and implantable devices.

Rick Wilking/Reuters

Source: Business Insider, Business Insider

Zuckerberg believes that Biohub will help speed up research to cure disease, telling The New Yorker in 2018 that "we'll basically have been able to manage or cure all of the major things that people suffer from and die from today. Based on the data that we already see, it seems like there's a reasonable shot."

Stephen Lam/Reuters

Source: The New Yorker

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