Topline
The net worth of Meta’s centibillionaire CEO Mark Zuckerberg dropped by more than $22 billion—or 13%—on Thursday, as shares of the Facebook parent slumped after the tech giant’s first-quarter earnings call exceeded expectations but anticipated slow growth.
Key Facts
Meta shares sank more than 13% to 426.47 as of 11:18 a.m. ET on Thursday, with Zuckerberg’s net worth standing at $151 billion at around 11:15 a.m. ET, down $22.1 billion on the day.
The plummeting stock price followed Meta’s first-quarter earnings call Wednesday afternoon, in which the company projected lower-than-expected second-quarter sales and forecasted heavy costs in its artificial intelligence division with no clear path to operating profits
Forbes Valuation
Zuckerberg is still the fourth richest person in the world, behind LVMH’s Bernard Arnault, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Tesla’s Elon Musk.
Big Number
$36.46 billion. That’s how much Meta earned in sales during the first quarter of 2024, exceeding estimates of $36.14 billion. It was up 27% from the previous year.
Tangent
Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz’s net worth also fell by $2 billion—or 11.63%, according to Forbes’ calculations. He is 103rd on Forbes’ billionaires list, with an estimated net worth of $15.8 billion.
Key Background
Wednesday’s earnings call detailed the tech giant’s emphasis on developing its AI capabilities, a week after it launched Llama 3, its standalone AI chatbot. Despite the planned big spending on AI, Meta is still principally an advertising company—with advertisements accounting for 99% of its overall revenues. The massive planned investments into the technology, coupled with anticipated slower growth in the second-quarter, seemingly scared investors and sent shares plummeting. During Wednesday’s call, Zuckerberg said Meta AI is on the path to “be the most used and best AI assistant in the world,” an endeavor he referred to as “enormously valuable.” However, he said Meta will be “scaling the product before it is making money,” and cited the transitions of Instagram Reels, Stories and News Feeds to mobile, which brought stock volatility. JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth wrote in a Thursday note to clients Meta’s comparisons to the previous scaling periods “will concern many investors, even as we can see those long-term payoffs.”
Further Reading
Meta Stock Tanks 10% Despite Big Earnings Beat (Forbes)
Tech Stocks Tumble As Meta’s AI Bet Spooks Investors (Forbes)
Meta AI Declares War On OpenAI, Google With Standalone Chatbot — What To Know About ‘Llama 3’ Model (Forbes)
Meta stock plummets after Zuckerberg touts money-losing projects (NBC News)
