Mark Zuckerberg's net worth swung by double-digit billions twice this summer as Meta's AI spending divides Wall Street. A blowout earnings report sent Meta's stock to record highs near $780, adding roughly $26.8 billion to Zuckerberg's net worth in a single day, but the stock later suffered its worst day of the year when Meta guided capital expenditures toward as much as $145 billion this year, up from around $72 billion in 2025, causing his fortune to drop roughly $18 billion. Revenue is still climbing at a healthy clip, up 28% from a year earlier last quarter, but free cash flow nearly vanished as spending on chips, servers, and data centers ballooned. The volatility signals that the market has reached no consensus on whether the AI build-out will pay off, and owning Meta now means accepting sharp swings and a long time horizon.
