Just yesterday, Meta, the overseeing entity of Facebook, underwent its most drastic stock plummet in its entire history, both pre and post its rebranding. Blamed on disappointing Q4 earnings and a stagnant user base, Meta stocks nosedived by more than 26%, translating to about a $240 billion decrease in market value.
The individual facing the brunt of this colossal setback is none other than Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. As per the latest filings with the SEC, Zuckerberg holds 398 million shares in Meta, equating to roughly a 14.2% stake in the firm. Post the crash, Zuckerberg saw approximately $31 billion obliterated from his personal wealth, shrinking it to $89.6 billion. This drastic downturn has pushed Zuckerberg to the edge of the global top 10 wealthiest billionaires list. He currently sits in the 10th spot, just $400 million wealthier than the 11th place contender, Mukesh Ambani, the Indian energy mogul.
The colossal decline in Meta’s shares this week has slashed $31 billion from Mark Zuckerberg’s wealth, pushing him down three ranks on Bloomberg’s roster of the wealthiest individuals globally https://t.co/uvxtRxA1Dw
— CNN (@CNN) February 4, 2022
Industry experts speculate that one of the primary factors behind the lackluster profits and absence of new users is the substantial investment of time, money, and resources that Meta is currently dedicating to Metaverse exploration and advancement. The proposed Metaverse aims to be a novel business frontier heavily reliant on augmented and virtual reality technologies, but a viable (and lucrative) realization of this concept is still far from reach.
