Zuckerberg alone is said to have lost over $11 billion. With a b.
On Thursday, the social media outlet noted a stock price drop of over 18%, which accounts for an overall cost decrease in excess of $150 billion.
This is believed to be in direct relation to Facebook's first quarterly forecast since the
Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which it was revealed that its number of active users is growing less quickly than expected.
CBS News reported that investors were completely startled by "a bevy of red flags about setbacks to its revenue and user growth", as Facebook Chief Financial Officer David Wehner stated that due to new internet privacy laws in the EU, revenue growth in the region had "decelerated more quickly than other regions".
However, many analysts believe that this is not the point to decide that the end of Facebook is near, as the reasoning behind the declining profits margins is actually because the company is spending more money on the long-term futures of both Facebook and Instagram.
Investment analyst Rich Greenfield stated that "Facebook is actively choosing to make less money, deprioritizing near-term monetization to drive engagement to even higher levels to capture even more of their 2.5 billion monthly users' time and attention. Legacy media executives... should not be rejoicing -- they should be afraid, very afraid."
Still though, it is difficult to not be taken aback by the sheer numbers involved in the situation:
https://twitter.com/gelles/status/1022476401944002560
