Richest Person In California: This 37-Year-Old CEO Is Worth $107 Billion

Meta (Facebook) founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is California's richest resident as well as one of the richest people in the world.

Zuckerberg — who has a real-time net worth of $107 billion, according to a Forbes estimate — took the top spot formerly held by Tesla co-founder Elon Musk, who previously lived in California.

In 2020, Musk moved to Texas. His reason for moving was Texas' lack of income tax, while California’s is the highest in the country. Currently, Musk is the richest person not only in Texas but also in the world.

According to Forbes’ 2021 list of the richest Americans, Zuckerberg is the wealthiest Californian. At the time the list was created, the 37-year-old had a net worth of $134.5 billion.

He also ranked fifth in the magazine's list of the richest people in the world last year.

Zuckerberg co-created Facebook at Harvard University in 2004 at the age of 19 for students to match names with photos of classmates. Facebook went public in May 2012.

Zuckerberg now owns about 12% of the company's stock, according to Forbes.

In December 2015, Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, pledged to give away 99% of their Facebook stake to charity over their lifetimes through the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Its mission mimics much of what the couple's donations have focused on in the past: personalized learning, curing diseases and connecting people.

Many were not surprised with the move because years before he made the announcement, Zuckerberg signed the Giving Pledge — along with other tech billionaires such as Bill Gates — and vowed to give away the majority of his wealth.

The second richest person in California, based on the Forbes 400 list, is Google co-founder Larry Page, who at the time the list was created had a net worth of $123 billion.

Trailing behind Page is Google co-founder Sergey Brin with a net worth of $118.5 billion, Meta co-founder Dustin Moskovitz with $24.1 billion and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt with $23.9 billion.

California is still home to more billionaires than any other state despite the transfer of Tesla and other tech companies.

Forbes' 2021 world's billionaires list features 189 California residents, an increase of 24 compared to the 2020 record.