Zuckerberg Is Now Worth $6.9 Billion, No. 35 in the Forbes 400

Forbes has released its latest edition of the 400 top wealthiest Americans. While the list is dominated by familiar figures, Bill Gates as always, there are some impressive movements in the lower ranks, notably Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's rise from number 135 to number 35.

Zuckerberg's is probably the biggest rise this year and it's hardly surprising. Facebook value has gone from about $7 billion in 2009, at the time the last Forbes 400 list was compiled, to about $23 billion today.

Zuckerberg's share in the company ensures that, at those valuations, his worth went from $2 billion last year to $6.9 billion in 2010.

The valuations come from private stock markets so there is a degree of uncertainty about them. In theory, if Facebook were to go public at this moment, Zuckerberg would be sitting on $6.9 billion worth of shares.

Of course, Facebook's value has been rising dramatically, with no signs of stopping, so Zuckerberg may very well move much higher up the ladder by next year.

Interestingly, Apple supperstar CEO and founder, Steve Jobs is only in the 42nd place with a net worth of $6.1 billion. Even more interesting, for those who haven't been too following Apple's history too closely, Jobs' wealth comes mostly from his stock in Disney, acquired after he sold the Pixar animation studio to the media giant.

Microsoft contributes quite a few names to the list, starting with Bill Gates, at number one with $54 billion, along with CEO Steve Ballmer with $13.1 billion and co-founder Paul Allen with $12.7 billion.

Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison with $27 billion is at number 3. Amazon's founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is not doing too bad himself with $12.6 billion putting him at number 18. The Google founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin are tied in 11th place both with $15 billion.