According to Forbes’ real-time calculations, the Facebook founder’s personal net worth fell by approximately $29.7 billion on Thursday.
By the end of trading, Zuckerberg’s net worth was estimated to be $84.8 billion, knocking him out of the Top 10 list of the world’s wealthiest people. He is now ranked 12th by Forbes.
Dow Jones reported, citing market data, that Meta shares fell more than 26 percent on Thursday, closing at $237.76 each, wiping out about $232 billion in value, the largest one-day drop in market value of any stock in US history.
Late Wednesday, the social media behemoth reported its first quarterly decline in user base in company history.
In the fourth quarter, Facebook reported 1.929 billion daily users, a decrease from 1.93 billion users in the previous quarter. The unprecedented drop in Facebook’s average daily users dominated an earnings report that was weaker than expected.
Zuckerberg attributed the drop in user activity in part to increased competition from rival platforms like TikTok.
“People have a lot of options for how they want to spend their time, and apps like TikTok are growing very quickly,” Zuckerberg said on a conference call with investors on Wednesday afternoon.
Meta outperformed expectations in terms of revenue, with $33.67 billion in fourth-quarter sales, but fell short in terms of earnings. Reality Labs, the division in charge of creating the company’s version of the so-called “metaverse,” lost more than $10 billion in fiscal 2021 as Meta increased its investments.
According to Zuckerberg, the company’s vision for a fully realised metaverse is “still a ways off,” but he is optimistic about its eventual impact on Meta’s business.
“I’m pleased with the momentum and progress we’ve made thus far, and I’m confident that these are the right investments for us to focus on moving forward,” Zuckerberg added.
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