Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg tops list of richest entrepreneurs under 40 in the US – four times richer than his nearest challenger

mark zuckerberg

The 31-year-old Harvard graduate is more than four times wealthier than the second-richest on the top ten list – Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz who is estimated to have $9.7billion.

Zuckerberg was named number one in Forbes magazine’s run down of the most successful young entrepreneurs in the US.

Mark Zuckerberg’s fortune has climbed to $47billion, according to a list of the richest people in the US under the age of 40

Shares in Facebook hit a record $109 earlier this month and more than a billion people use the social network every day.

Third on the list was Jan Koum, the 39-year-old Whatsapp founder who is estimated to be worth $8.8billion according to Forbes.

Earlier this year it was reported that Zuckerberg, who founded Facebook in 2004, was now the 16th richest person in the world after a surge in Facebook stock.

Zuckerberg was said to have more money than fellow tech billionaires Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the co-founders of Google, as well as Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

Brin and Page were ranked at 17th and 18th richest people in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Bezos came in at number 20.

Last year, Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, announced a $120 million donation to improve education in the San Francisco Bay area, particularly for low-income students

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates is still the richest person in the world. Currently, his fortune stands at $84.7 billion.

Behind Gates is Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, who has made about $78 billion in the telecommunication business.

Last year, Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, announced a $120 million donation to improve education in the San Francisco Bay area, particularly for low-income students.

It came five years after donating $100 million to remake education in Newark.