February 3 Mark Zuckerberg lost $29 billion in net worth on Thursday as Meta Platforms Inc's stock marked a record one-day plunge following a disappointing earnings forecast that shook the global tech landscape.
Meta's stock fell 26%, erasing more than $200 billion in the biggest ever single-day market value wipeout for a U.S. company. That pulled down founder and Chief Executive Officer Zuckerberg's net worth to $85 billion, according to Forbes.
Zuckerberg owns about 12.8% of the tech behemoth formerly known as Facebook.
His one-day wealth decline is among the biggest ever and comes after Tesla Inc top boss Elon Musk's $35 billion single-day paper loss in November. Musk, the world's richest person, had then polled Twitter users if he should sell 10% of his stake in the electric carmaker. Tesla shares have yet to recover from the resulting selloff.
At least 21 brokerages cut price targets on Meta after the company posted a weaker-than-expected forecast on Wednesday, blaming Apple Inc's privacy changes and increased competition for users from rivals including TikTok and YouTube.
Following the $29 billion wipeout, Zuckerberg is in the twelfth spot on Forbes' list of real-time billionaires, below Indian business moguls Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani.
To be sure, trading in technology stocks remains volatile as investors struggle to price in the impact of high inflation and an expected rise in interest rates. Meta shares could very well recover sooner rather than later, with the hit to Zuckerberg's wealth staying on paper.
Zuckerberg sold $4.47 billion worth of Meta shares last year, before 2021's tech rout. The stock sales were carried out as part of a pre-set 10b5-1 trading plan, which executives use to allay concerns about insider trading.
The company, which changed its name to Meta last year to indicate its future direction, also said it will be taking on the META stock ticker in the first half of the year. Shares plunged as low as $237.07 in New York.
At those levels, it's the biggest collapse in market value for any U.S. company. But there's no certainty the losses will hold, especially given the recent volatility that's whipped across technology shares. Markets have swung wildly in recent weeks, with buy-the-dip traders sometimes storming in during the final hours of the trading day.
Other social media companies also saw their shares decline, with Snap Inc. down 21%, Pinterest Inc. down 8% and Twitter Inc. down 5.1%.
Read more about the dilemma facing antitrust regulators looking into Meta's market power.
Meta's Reality Labs division, which includes the company's investments in the metaverse and virtual reality, reported an operating loss of $3.3 billion for the fourth quarter, as the company disclosed its contribution for the first time.The catalyst was startling news that for the first time ever, Facebook's user growth seems to have hit a ceiling and its momentum is stalling. Thursday's collapse wiped out more than $230 billion of market value in an instant a figure unprecedented in stock-market history and has investors asking a question that once seemed unthinkable: Are the best days over for Facebook, one of the world's most widely held technology stocks?
This quarter's sales forecast also disappointed Wall Street and Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg saw his personal wealth potentially plummet about $24 billion. He acknowledged that Meta is facing serious competition for user time and attention, particularly from viral video-sharing app TikTok.
The report marks a dramatic turnaround for a company that has posted share gains in every year but one since its 2012 initial public offering, stoking concern that Meta Platforms' flagship product and core advertising moneymaker has plateaued after years of consistent gains.
"These cuts run deep," wrote Michael Nathanson, an analyst at brokerage Moffett Nathanson, who titled his note "Facebook: The Beginning of the End?" The results were "a headline grabber and not in a good way."
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