Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms, speaks about the Facebook News feature at the Paley Center For Media in New York on October 25, 2019.
Drew Angerer | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth plunged $18 billion on Thursday after comments from Meta The CEO, during the earnings call, sent his company’s stock price to its biggest drop since October 2022.
Meta beat revenue and profit expectations, but provided a lighter-than-expected revenue guidance. Zuckerberg told investors the company would continue to spend billions of dollars on areas such as artificial intelligence and the Metaverse, even though Meta relies on advertising for 98% of its revenue.
“We’ve historically seen a lot of volatility in our stock during this phase of our product strategy where we’re investing in developing a new product but not yet monetizing it,” Zuckerberg said on the call.
Zuckerberg owns about 345 million Class A and B shares. As the stock fell $52.12 on Thursday, the value of his stake fell by about $18 billion, to $152 billion at the close of trading. markets.
The 39-year-old programmer founded the company in his Harvard dorm room in 2004 and renamed it Facebook to Meta in 2021, signaling to investors his intention to focus on the nonexistent Metaverse.
Meta’s Reality Labs division, which houses the hardware and software needed to develop the Metaverse, has posted cumulative losses of $45 billion since 2020, when the company first spun off the unit in its financial statements.
Meta said it expects to spend between $35 billion and $40 billion in capital spending this year, an increase from its previous forecast.
Zuckerberg’s fortune has fluctuated over the years, with his company’s stock being particularly volatile. His net worth fell by about $100 billion in 2022. In early 2023, he announced that Meta would embark on a “year of efficiency,” a move that saw the stock price triple for the year. year and increase Zuckerberg’s net worth with it.
Thursday wasn’t the worst day for Zuckerberg’s bank account. In early 2022, he lost nearly $30 billion in a single day, when his company’s stock price fell 26% due to weak profits and disappointing forecasts.
WATCH: Meta’s AI business is a good long-term investment
cnbc
