Social media and technology company Meta Platforms META saw shares soar Friday after the company reported fourth-quarter financial results Thursday that beat analysts' estimates.
With the surging price of Meta's stock, CEO Mark Zuckerberg might be having the last laugh in his rivalry with Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk.
What Happened: A war of words between Zuckerberg and Musk once almost ended up in a cage match. The two billionaires proposed fighting each other, after there was criticism that Meta Platforms had copied social media platform Twitter, which is owned by Musk.
While the cage match was never booked, the two continue to be rivals.
Zuckerberg has watched his company’s value surpass Musk’s since the fight was proposed.
With Meta's soaring stock price, the company is now worth $1.22 trillion, ranking as the seventh-most valuable public company. Tesla was worth $598 billion as of Friday, ranking as the eleventh-most valuable public company.
This means that Meta is now worth twice as much as Tesla based on the market capitalizations of the two companies.
At the time the fight was proposed, Tesla had a market capitalization of around $829 billion, while Meta ranked behind at a valuation of around $718 billion.
As Meta has increased in value since, so has Zuckerberg's wealth.
When the cage match was floated around, Musk was worth $232 billion and Zuckerberg was worth $103 billion. Today, the net worths of Musk and Zuckerberg are $205 billion and $142 billion respectively.
Related Link: Meta Platforms Analysts Raise Expectations After Q4 Earnings Beat: ‘Growth, Profits, Buyback & Dividends All In One’
Why It's Important: Musk has criticized Zuckerberg and Meta Platforms over its investments in the metaverse and for copying X products.
Facebook, which Meta owns, has also been dragged into the two’s rivalry, as advertisers have paused ads on X due to its potential harmful content while still continuing to advertise on Facebook.
Since the time the fight was proposed, Meta has gained over $450 billion and Zuckerberg's wealth has increased by nearly $40 billion. Meta rejoined the $1 trillion market capitalization club in January.
The opposite can be said of Tesla and Musk, with the former’s market capitalization declining by over $30 billion and the latter’s net worth falling by $25 billion respectively.
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