On April 25, Meta Platforms shares experienced a significant decline, resulting in a sharp loss of $18 billion for owner and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. This marked the 11th largest single-day decrease among the world’s billionaires on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Zuckerberg’s wealth is largely tied to his ownership of Meta shares, which currently amount to $157 billion. The drop in share value caused him to slip from the first position on the list of the world’s richest individuals to the fourth position, making way for Tesla CEO Elon Musk whose assets increased by $5.8 billion as Tesla’s shares rose.
The decline in Meta shares was due to several factors including concerns about second-quarter revenue falling short of analysts’ expectations and an increase in investment forecast for new AI products and support infrastructure. The recent excitement surrounding AI technology had helped push Meta’s stock towards its historical peak over the past month, but this focus on artificial intelligence has raised concerns among investors about when they will see a payoff for these investments.
Despite yesterday’s drop, Meta’s stock has seen a 25% increase since the beginning of the year, with its market capitalization currently standing at around $1,120 billion. As with many companies, Meta has been impacted by market dynamics and competition from other tech giants such as Google and Amazon. Despite this challenge, Zuckerberg remains committed to growing his company and continues to invest heavily in innovation and new technologies like virtual reality and augmented reality.