'Two words' that wiped away $29 billion from Mark Zuckerberg's fortune in just one day, taking him to one of his lowest rankings on Billionaires Index

This week saw Facebook-parent Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg fall from third to fifth place on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The plunge happened after Meta’ stock fell 11% on Thursday, October 30, wiping out $29.2 billion from Zuckerberg's fortune in just one day. The drop was the fourth-largest one-day market-driven loss ever recorded by Bloomberg’s wealth index.

The 41-year-old CEO’s net worth fell to $235.2 billion, his lowest ranking in nearly two years, as investors recoiled from Meta’s plan to issue $30 billion in new debt to fund artificial intelligence spending, according to Bloomberg.

What triggered fall in Mark Zuckerberg's ranking on Billionaires Index

Meta has forecast "notably larger" Capital Expenses next year (2026), thanks to investments in artificial intelligence, including aggressively building data centers to power its AI push. Wall Street is just not happy with the company's spending spree, resulting in almost 10% fall in its stock value. So, if there are 'Two Words' that are responsible for $29 billion-plus wipe out in Mark Zuckerberg's wealth, they are 'Capital Expenditure' or CAPEX. In simple words, Capex or Capital Expenditure, is the money a company spends to acquire, upgrade, or maintain its long-term physical assets, such as buildings, machinery, and equipment.

The Facebook and Instagram parent reported third-quarter revenue growth of 26% that beat market estimates, but that jump was outpaced by a 32% increase in costs. The company announced that it would raise its total expense forecast for 2025 to as much as $118 billion — including up to $72 billion in capital expenditures — to expand its AI infrastructure, with even higher spending anticipated in 2026. The staggering outlay triggered at least two analyst downgrades, with some warning that Meta’s AI ambitions could squeeze profits.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been overtaken by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Google co-founder Larry Page in the global billionaire rankings, marking a sharp reversal from earlier this year when he was closing in on the top spots held by Bezos and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Zuckerberg, whose net worth skyrocketed by $57 billion in the first half of the year amid a 28% rise in Meta shares, now trails behind as competitors capitalize on booming AI and cloud sectors.

Amazon and Google founders beat Mark Zuckerberg

Tesla's Elon Musk remains firmly entrenched at No. 1, with Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison in second place. The shift highlights the beneficiaries of recent market gains: Jeff Bezos and Larry Page rode waves of strong corporate earnings that propelled their companies' stock prices higher. Amazon shares have jumped more than 30% since April, fueled by renewed investor confidence in its cloud-computing division, AWS, which has secured major deals with AI startups like Anthropic. Similarly, Alphabet -- Google's parent company -- saw its stock climb 2.5% following better-than-expected third-quarter revenue, driven by robust demand for its cloud and AI services.

Compounding Meta's challenges, the company's $30 billion bond sale -- the largest investment -- grade offering of 2025—was intended to fund ambitious investments in AI, data centers, and metaverse initiatives. Instead, it has ignited concerns among investors that the social media giant is overextending itself financially at a time when rivals are gaining traction in AI-powered advertising.