Mark Zuckerberg, the fifth-richest person in the world, says he has more money than he deserves.
At a recent company event, the Facebook CEO was asked about whether it's ethical for billionaires to exist.
Presidential candidate and life-long socialist Bernie Sanders has made headlines for repeatedly stating no one should have a billion dollars because there's no way for them to earn that much without exploiting workers.
The sentiment has been echoed by other progressive politicians including congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who tweeted: "The ascent of billionaires is a symptom and outcome of an immoral system that tells people affordable insulin is impossible but exploitation is fine."
“Billionaires should not exist” does not mean certain people should not exist.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 2, 2019
It means no person should have a billion dollars.
The ascent of billionaires is a symptom & outcome of an immoral system that tells people affordable insulin is impossible but exploitation is fine. https://t.co/fjxKOGIdc2
Zuckerberg, who is worth an estimated US$65 billion (NZ$102 billion), might seem an unlikely supporter of wealth redistribution - but his comments at the event indicate he believes there should perhaps be some sort of cap on income.
"I don't know if I have an exact threshold on what amount of money someone should have, but on some level no one deserves to have that much money," he told the crowd.
"I think if you do something that's good, you get rewarded, but I do think some of the wealth that can be accumulated is unreasonable."
The tech entrepreneur has pledged to give away 99 percent of his Facebook shares.
The weekly Q&A event was, unusually, livestreamed from Facebook's headquarters after Zuckerberg's comments about another presidential candidate were leaked to the media.
Elizabeth Warren has made clear that if she is elected, she will break up tech giants such as Facebook and Amazon and impose new restrictions on the top-earning companies. Zuckerberg was displeased with the idea, leaked audio reveals.
"If she gets elected president, then I would bet that we will have a legal challenge, and I would bet that we will win the legal challenge," he was heard saying. "And does that still suck for us? Yeah."
He added he was prepared to "go to the mat and fight" to protect his company.
During Thursday's event, Zuckerberg was asked to clarify his feelings about Warren, whose polling numbers have surged in recent months, putting her neck-and-neck with Sanders behind frontrunner Joe Biden.
"Let's try not to antagonise her further," Zuckerberg said. "I would rather have someone get elected, even if I disagree with them on everything, which I don't even think is the case here, than not give them the ability to say what they think."
