Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth plunged by $29 billion on Thursday when Meta Platforms Inc’s stock fell to a new low in a single day, while fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos was expected to add $20 billion to his personal value following Amazon’s record results.
Meta’s shares dropped 26%, wiping out more than $200 billion in the worst single-day market value wipeout for a U.S. corporation. According to Forbes, this has reduced founder and CEO Zuckerberg’s net value to $85 billion. Zuckerberg owns around 12.8 percent of the erstwhile Facebook tech powerhouse.
Marketing messages become less accurately targeted and hence less profitable as iPhone users opt out of providing data for targeting advertising in Facebook apps. On an earnings conference, Meta chief financial officer David Wehner remarked, “We believe the impact of iOS, overall, as a headwind on our business in 2022 is on the order of $10 billion,” “So, that is a pretty significant headwind for our business.”
Businesses cut spending in the face of supplier problems, labor churn, and pandemic worries, and advertising at Meta suffered as a result. According to Baird Equity Research analyst Colin Sebastian, Meta is facing a “perfect storm” that is stifling expansion.
According to Refinitiv data, Bezos, the founder and chairman of e-commerce store Amazon, owns around 9.9 percent of the firm. According to Forbes, he is also the world’s third richest man.
Amazon’s holiday-quarter profit increased due to its investments in electric vehicle company Rivian, and the company announced it would raise annual prices of Prime subscriptions in the United States, sending its shares up 15% in extended trading and preparing it for its biggest percentage gain since October 2009 on Friday.
According to Forbes, Bezos’ net wealth increased 57 percent year on year to $177 billion in 2021, owing partly to Amazon’s surge during the epidemic, when people were heavily reliant on internet purchasing.
Zuckerberg’s one-day wealth loss is among the largest in history, following Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk’s $35 billion single-day paper loss in November. Musk, the world’s richest person, then surveyed Twitter followers to see if he should sell 10% of his interest in Tesla. Tesla’s stock has failed to recover from the ensuing selloff.
Following the $29 billion loss, Zuckerberg is now ranked twelfth on Forbes’ list of real-time billionaires, trailing Indian business moguls Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani.
To be sure, trading in technology companies remains erratic as investors attempt to factor in the effects of strong inflation and a predicted rise in interest rates. Meta shares may rebound sooner rather than later, with the impact on Zuckerberg’s fortune remaining on paper.
Before the 2021 tech meltdown, Zuckerberg sold $4.47 billion in Meta shares last year. The stock transactions were part of a pre-determined 10b5-1 trading strategy, which executives employ to alleviate worries about insider trading.
