Mark Zuckerberg loses $88 billion in less than a year as Meta misses again

After his Meta Platforms Inc reported dismal profitability for the second consecutive quarter, Mark Zuckerberg’s fortune fell by $11 billion, totalling an $88-billion loss in just 10 months. 

Data collated from Bloomberg Billionaires Index revealed Zuckerberg, 38, now has a net worth of $37.7 billion, a startling decline from a peak of $142 billion in September 2021. 

The Meta CEO has suffered the single-largest reduction among those on the wealth list, even though many of the world’s wealthiest people have seen their fortunes fall this year. 

On a call on Wednesday, Zuckerberg attempted to defend Meta’s rising costs to support its version of virtual reality, the metaverse, as well as the artificial intelligence driving significant changes to the world. 

Investors have already driven the stock’s annual decline to 71%, but they haven’t bought it yet. The market value of the company that owns Facebook has plummeted by a staggering $676 billion this year, knocking it out of the top 20 US corporations. Although he couldn’t be certain of the exact size of the return, Zuckerberg said he was certain that Meta’s biggest bets in areas like short-form video, corporate communications, and the metaverse were moving in the right path. 

After never reporting dropping sales previous to 2022, Meta’s revenue decreased 4.5% from a year before, the second consecutive quarter to see a decline. While funding its virtual reality platform, the social media site is dealing with spiralling expenditures. Shares of Meta started Thursday 25% down on the Nasdaq 

In reference to the business’s emphasis on the metaverse, Zuckerberg remarked, “I know that a lot of people could disagree with this investment. A year ago, the Menlo Park-based business changed its name from Facebook to Meta. He declared the pivot to be “fundamentally vital to the future” while standing by it. 

According to the social giant’s most recent proxy statement, Zuckerberg owns more than 350 million shares. He formerly ranked third behind only Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos on the Bloomberg wealth index. He was in 28th place as of Thursday’s end. 

Due to the current state of the economy and a change in Apple Inc.’s privacy policy that made all social media advertisements less successful, Meta has already had to deal with a decline in marketer expenditure. In order to keep its social media platforms current and increase its virtual reality products, the company has reduced expenditures by limiting hiring and focusing on a smaller number of goals. 

The business, which last year changed its name from Facebook to Meta, is also placing a lot of money on the metaverse, a network of communities powered by virtual reality and where CEO Mark Zuckerberg believes the future of work and communication will take place. The effort is costing Meta billions, and the corporation anticipates further losses from its metaverse operations in 2019.