Mark Zuckerberg adds $8bn to personal wealth, becomes ninth richest man in the world

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg is now the ninth richest person in the world, a report says, as the world's largest social network goes from strength to strength.

Zuckerberg is worth an estimated $42.5bn (£27.2bn, €38.8bn) after adding some $8bn to his personal fortune in the past year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

That takes him past Ikea owner Ingvar Kamprad - who is worth $42.1bn - on the global rich list to ninth, and leaves him just shy of Oracle founder Larry Ellison at $43.2bn and Amazon chairman Jeff Bezos at $43.6bn.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates remains the richest man in the world with a personal fortune of $84.6bn, while legendary US investor Warren Buffett is third on the list at $67.4bn.

Facebook, which boasts some 1.4 billion monthly users, has a market value of about $250bn, and its share price hit an all-time high of $98 on 21 July.

It is the fastest company in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index to breach the $250bn market cap, according to Bloomberg, and the ninth biggest – bigger than Walmart and Procter & Gamble, which took decades to build their value.

Analysts expect the stock price to go past the $100-mark in anticipation of a solid earnings report that is due next week.

Bloomberg's ranking of richest people: