Zuckerberg Passes Brin & Page On Forbes' Rich List

Zuckerberg Passes Brin & Page On Forbes’ Rich List

Sep 22, 2011 at 9:33am ET by Matt McGee

zuckerberg-brin-page Scoreboard: Facebook guy – 1, Google guys – 0.

Or, more accurately: Facebook guy – $17.5 billion, Google guys – $16.7 billion (each).

Those are the estimated net worths of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, as reported in the latest edition of the Forbes 400 Rich List — a ranking of the wealthiest 400 people in America.

Forbes counts Zuckerberg as the biggest gainer on this year’s list, with his net worth jumping from $6.9 billion last year to $17.5 billion now. It’s also the first time that Zuckerberg has been listed ahead of Brin and Page, and the first time he’s cracked the top 20.

But don’t cry for the Google guys. Their estimated net worth rose $1.6 billion over the past year to $16.7 billion each. Google Chairman Eric Schmidt is also on the list, but down at No. 50 with a relatively paltry $6.2 billion estimated net worth. (It’ll be Top Ramen tonight in the Schmidt household, no doubt.)

Here’s a look at some of the search/tech personalities in the top 100 of Forbes’ list:

1. Bill Gates, $59 billion
13. Jeff Bezos, $19.1 billion
14. Mark Zuckerberg, $17.5 billion
15. Sergey Brin, $16.7 billion
15. Larry Page, $16.7 billion
19. Steve Ballmer, $13.9 billion
39. Steve Jobs, $7 billion
50. Pierre Omidyar, $6.2 billion
50. Eric Schmidt, $6.1 billion
91. Dustin Moskovitz, $3.5 billion

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Facebook | Google: Employees

About The Author: Matt McGee is Editor-In-Chief of Search Engine Land. His news career includes time spent in TV, radio, and print journalism. His web career continues to include a small number of SEO and social media consulting clients, as well as regular speaking engagements at marketing events around the U.S. He blogs at Small Business Search Marketing and can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee and/or on Google Plus. You can read Matt's disclosures on his personal blog. See more articles by Matt McGee

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Zachary Reiss-Davis

Which is essentially a sign that the Forbes list is a fun toy, but not too useful in the details. Zuckerberg’s money is essentially theoretical – I presume that a vast, vast majority of it is tied up in Facebook. Until Facebook finally goes public, it’s hard to compare his resources to that of the Google pair, whose stock (and other assets) are much more fungible and “real”.

Note: not to imply Facebook won’t go public, or that Zuckerberg won’t make a large amount of money when it does – just that he hasn’t yet.