Saverin is a co-founder of Meta Platforms, the company behind Facebook -- the world's largest social-network. The Menlo Park, California-based company has more than 3.9 billion monthly users and reported revenue of $135 billion in 2023. Meta's 2012 initial offering was the biggest-ever technology IPO at the time.
The majority of Saverin's fortune is derived from his stake in Meta Platforms, formerly Facebook. He owns about 2% of the company, according to its 2022 proxy statement. The world's largest social network has more than 3.9 billion active users each month including about 3 billion on Facebook, according to a February 2024 company presentation.
One of the earliest shareholders of Meta, Saverin's stake was diluted by successive rounds of financing. After settling a lawsuit with the company over his ownership in 2009, Saverin held about 5% of the shares, according to David Kirkpatrick's book "The Facebook Effect." He agreed to sell some of his stock to Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov's DST in 2010, according to an attachment to Facebook's 2012 initial public offering prospectus, which doesn't disclose details on the sales. It was the biggest technology IPO in history at the time.
The value of Saverin's investments includes more than $500 million of proceeds from the sale of Facebook shares, according to company filings and an analysis of Bloomberg data as of March 1, 2024, as well as the effect of taxes and market performance. It also includes stakes in startups such as Jumio and Perx that are based on transaction prices at secondary exchange SharesPost in 2010.
The billionaire renounced his US citizenship in 2011. Americans who give up their passport owe what's effectively an exit tax on the estimated capital gains from their stock holdings at the time of the renunciation. Saverin's bill would be about $255 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The bill can be deferred indefinitely until he actually sells the shares so it's included as a liability until the shares are sold.
In 2015 Saverin co-founded the venture capital firm B Capital Group, where he is a managing partner based out of its Singapore office.
Deepa Balji, a spokesperson for B Capital Group, declined to comment on Bloomberg's net worth calculations.
Born to a wealthy Brazilian family in 1982, Saverin moved to Miami as a child and went on to attend Harvard University. In February 2004, he joined Mark Zuckerberg and two other classmates in starting Facebook, which began as a social-networking website for college students. Saverin stayed behind when his colleagues moved to Silicon Valley, and was cut from the company in the summer of 2004 amid management disagreements.
The falling-out led to the dilution of his holding as new investors came in, which he contested in court. A 2009 legal settlement gave him an undisclosed stake and the right to be officially referred to as a co-founder on Facebook's website. That year, Saverin moved to Singapore. He renounced his U.S. citizenship around September 2011, and now invests in internet startups.