Musk, Zuckerberg See Net Worth Soar In 2023 As Billionaire Rivalry Continues To Play Out

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, Inc. TSLA, and Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms, Inc. META, engaged in more than one rivalry in 2023. One of the tech billionaires regained his spot as the world's richest person and the other saw his company's stock rise nearly 200% in 2023. Here's what you need to know.

The Numbers: Collectively, the world's richest billionaires added $1.5 trillion in wealth last year after losing $1.4 trillion in 2022, according to CNBC.

Musk added more than $96 billion to his net worth in 2023 bringing his total net worth to $232 billion and regaining the title of the richest person in the world. Zuckerberg added $84 billion to his net worth in 2023, increasing his total net worth to $130 billion, making him the sixth richest person in the world. 

Though Musk won the title of richest person, Meta Platforms’ stock fared better than Tesla in 2023. Tesla shares doubled last year, while Meta stock gained more than 185%.

The rivalry between the pair of billionaires heated up in July 2023 as Meta Platforms launched Threads, a text-based social media platform designed to directly compete with X, which was born from Twitter after Musk purchased the platform for $44 billion the year before.

Just ahead of the Threads release, the billionaire tech execs made their rivalry public in a war of words on social platforms. Verbal jabs eventually led to a jiu-jitsu match being discussed, but an actual martial arts match never materialized.

Related News: Zuckerberg's 'Year Of Efficiency' Drives Meta Stock To Best Year Ever With Eye-Popping 190% Surge: What's Next In 2024?

Looking Ahead: Both Musk and Zuckerberg see artificial intelligence as integral to their future plans and as some are already calling 2024 the "year of AI," artificial intelligence could be the next battleground for the billionaires.

Tesla has a dedicated Autopilot AI team which continues to develop its autonomous vehicle capabilities. Musk also founded an AI company, X.ai, which has already released its first generative AI model, Grok, an AI chatbot similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. 

Meanwhile, Meta has established an AI product team to develop AI-based text experiences, image and video filters, AI personas and other generative-AI features across its platforms.

Image: Gerd Altmann from Pixabay