Mark Zuckerberg lost $90 billion in last 13 months as Meta stock plunges 22%
Mark Zuckerberg has seen his net worth plummet by more than $90 billion in the last 13 months as the stock price of his company, Meta, nosedived Thursday.Zuckerberg’s real-time net worth was pegged at $48.9 billion as of 11:26 a.m. Eastern time, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index — putting him 23rd on the list of wealthiest people in the world.
In September 2021, Zuckerberg reached the height of his wealth with a net worth valued at $142 billion.
Since then, Meta’s stock price has fallen by more than 67% — including 22% on Thursday after the company’s quarterly report showed a massive drop in profits.In May 2020, Zuckerberg was the third richest person in the world — ranked behind Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates . Since then, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has jumped to the top of the list.
But as of 11:30 a.m., Meta was trading at slightly more than $100 a share — its lowest stock price since 2016.
At its peak, Meta’s stock was trading at $382 per share.
Meta announced Wednesday that revenue dropped for the second consecutive quarter as the company struggles with falling advertising sales due to stiff competition from rising social media app TikTok .The Menlo Park, Calif.-company earned $4.4 billion, or $1.64 per share, in the three-month period that ended Sept. 30. That’s down 52% from, $9.19 billion, or $3.22 per share, in the same period a year earlier.
Revenue fell 4% to $27.71 billion from $29.01 billion, slightly higher than the $27.4 billion that analysts had predicted.
Meta’s disappointing results followed weak earnings reports from Google parent Alphabet Inc. and Microsoft this week.
Some of the Meta’s investors are concerned the company is spending too much money and confusing people with its focus on the metaverse, a virtual, mixed and augmented reality concept that few people understand — while it also grapples with a weakening advertising business.Meta’s Reality Labs division, which is overseeing its metaverse-related ventures, burned through $3 billion in cash this past quarter, the company told investors.
Zuckerberg has come under widespread ridicule for his zealous devotion to the cause of advancing the metaverse.
In August, Zuckerberg posted a selfie of his metaverse avatar posing in front of the Eiffel Tower. The image was meant to celebrate the expansion of the virtual reality platform Horizon Worlds into France and Spain.
The metaverse selfie was widely mocked to the point where it became a viral meme on social media.
In his call with investors, Zuckerberg brought up the meme and defended his strategy, insisting that the short-term pain is worth the long-term gain.“I know sometimes when we ship products , there’s a meme where people say, ‘You’re spending all this money and you produce this thing,’” Zuckerberg said.
“I think that’s not really the right way to think about it.”
He added: “I think there’s a number of different products and platforms that we’re building, where we think we’re doing leading work that will become… launching consumer products and then eventually mature products at different cadences, different periods of time over the next five to 10 years.”
Zuckerberg predicted that his vision will be vindicated.
“Obviously it has a long way to go before it’s going to be what we aspire for it to be,” Zuckerberg said of Horizon Worlds.“We think we’re doing some leading work there, but obviously we need to get that into the product and continue innovating on that.”
In May 2020, Zuckerberg was the third richest person in the world — ranked behind Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.
Meta announced Wednesday that revenue dropped for the second consecutive quarter as the company struggles with falling advertising sales due to stiff competition from rising social media app TikTok.
Some of the Meta’s investors are concerned the company is spending too much money and confusing people with its focus on the metaverse, a virtual, mixed and augmented reality concept that few people understand — while it also grapples with a weakening advertising business. In his call with investors, Zuckerberg brought up the meme and defended his strategy, insisting that the short-term pain is worth the long-term gain.
“I know sometimes when we ship products, there’s a meme where people say, ‘You’re spending all this money and you produce this thing,’” Zuckerberg said.
“I think that’s not really the right way to think about it.”
He added: “I think there’s a number of different products and platforms that we’re building, where we think we’re doing leading work that will become… launching consumer products and then eventually mature products at different cadences, different periods of time over the next five to 10 years.”
