Mark Zuckerbergs 50-State Visit Fuels Rumors Of Presidential Ambitions

Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg wants to visit all 50 states in the U.S. for what basically amounts to a listening tour. Officially, the tech figure considers the move a challenge for himself in 2017. For others, however, it speaks of gears rolling that might just involve a potential run at the Presidency. While rumors about Zuckerberg’s intentions continue to swirl about, his net worth just jumped by $5 billion.

Zuckerberg has made no mention of any intention to run for President, Tech Times notes, but his next “personal challenge” as well as recent reports of him wanting to take on a government post are fueling speculations that he is aiming for the White House at some point. The rumors are basically pegging his trip to all 50 states as a means to get a feel for the general perception that people have of him.

Of course, it doesn’t help that publications like Quartz are putting out lists of things that the Silicon Valley billionaire would have to do if he wants to run in 2020. It just so happens that he had already done many of the items on the list, including hiring top Democrat and Republican campaign managers and suddenly seeing religion as important.

While everyone is busy digging into whether or not Zuckerberg is going to run for President in the next election cycle, the billionaire just added more billions to his pocket during the first two weeks of the year. The $5 billion that the Facebook founder earned puts him right at the top of the highest earners at the start of the year, Forbes reports.

Combined, the estimated total net worth of the potential future presidential candidate now stands at $53.8 billion. The soaring wealth of the tech figure is being attributed to Facebook’s efforts at combating fake news content and hate speech, for which it is getting a lot of positive press.