A friend with benefits

Facebook’s listing on the Nasdaq stockmarket last Friday was the third-largest initial public offering in US financial market history, raising $US16 billion.

On the first day of trading, Facebook’s share price closed at $US38.23, marginally above its IPO price of $US38. The closing price valued Mark Zuckerberg’s shares and options at $US19.25 billion. Zuckerberg, below, was the 29th wealthiest individual globally on the day of the IPO, surpassing Google founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page. It’s an astonishing feat for the 28-year-old co-founder and chief executive of Facebook, given the company was only created in 2004, the same year Google listed on the Nasdaq.

Zuckerberg’s grasp on Facebook did not diminish after the listing as he still holds 56.9 per cent of the voting power over the $US104 billion publicly listed company.

Despite his huge wealth, if he was Australian, Zuckerberg would still not top the Rich 200 given the huge growth in Gina Rinehart’s wealth this year.

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