The Facebook CEO plans to sell 30.2 million shares of his stake in the social network when it publicly offers its stock later this month. If the company’s IPO prices at the top of its $28 to $35 per-share range, Zuckerberg would pocket a “cool” $1.1 billion.
However, most of that cash will go straight to Uncle Sam and California. Zuckerberg plans to partially exercise a major stock options grant, and will use almost all of the cash he raises from his IPO sale to pay off the taxes on that maneuver.
But even after the tax man takes his bite, Zuckerberg will be a paper billionaire. His remaining 504 million shares will make him worth $17.6 billion if Facebook hits the top of its IPO range — enough to make him one of the 50 richest people on the planet, by Forbes’ calculation. Bloomberg has already give him a spot in its Billionaires Index, CNN reported.
It will be the Facebook CEO’s biggest payday by far, though he has collected plenty of cash over the years. Last year, he made $483,000 in salary, took home a $220,500 bonus, and received additional perks like private jet travel valued at $783,000.
Zuckerberg isn’t the only one making gobs of money on Facebook’s IPO.