Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is officially the richest man in California.
Forbes magazine calculated Facebook’s revenues and profits over the past year and concluded the 32-year-old added $18 billion to his fortune for an estimated total of $51.6 billion.
Oracle founder and fellow Californian Larry Ellison’s $52.8 billion net worth has contracted by roughly 10.5 percent since April, the magazine reported.
Facebook has been under the microscope in recent weeks since the technology blog Gizmodo accused it of skewing its news feed with a liberal bias. Claims by an anonymous former employee led to a meeting between Mr. Zuckerberg and at least 17 influential conservatives May 18 at Facebook’s Palo Alto headquarters.
As The Washington Times reported Monday, the company denied the existence of any “systemic political bias” towards conservatives but admitted that rogue employees may have exerted more influence than previously thought.
“Our investigation has revealed no evidence of systematic political bias in the selection or prominence of stories included in the Trending Topics feature. In fact, our analysis indicated that the rates of approval of conservative and liberal topics are virtually identical in Trending Topics,” Colin Stretch, the company’s general counsel, told Sen. John Thune, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, who is examining claims of bias.
Mr. Zuckerberg earned a spot on the magazine’s World’s Billionaires List in March. Its editors said his financial gains, based on May 6 stock prices, are attributable to investments in virtual reality, artificial intelligence and improving global Web access.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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