Meta crash leaves Mark Zuckerberg $24 billion ‘poorer’ in largest personal wealth loss

File photo of Meta Platforms Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg is staring at around $24 billion loss in personal wealth after Meta Platforms Inc. recorded dismal Q4 earnings on February 2, Bloomberg reported.

This would be among the biggest one-day wealth drops ever, as Meta shares tanked by over 20 percent after recording its first ever drop in daily users. This also pushes the Meta CEO out of the Top 10 wealthiest people in the world for the first time since 2015, it added.

As per the Bloomberg Billionaire Index (BBI), Zuckerberg's wealth dropped to around $97 billion on February 2  from $120.6 billion earlier.

The only other person to witness such a steep drop in wealth is Elon Musk, who lost $35 billion after Tesla Inc. shares nosedived in response to his tweet in November 2021 when he polled followers on selling 10 percent stake in the company. Musk also lost $25.8 billion in January.

While Zuckerberg usually held 4th spot in the Top 10, this year Google and Microsoft recorded good earnings, leading to Bill Gates, Larry Page and Sergey Brin (Google founders) surpassing Zuckerberg on the list, reports noted.

Facebook’s global daily active users declined to 1.929 billion in Q4 from 1.930 billion in the previous quarter, and it posted a weaker-than-expected forecast on February 2, blaming Apple's privacy changes and increased competition for users from rivals like TikTok.

Meta said it faced hits from Apple Inc.'s privacy changes to its operating system, which have made it harder for brands to target and measure their ads on Facebook and Instagram. It also cited macroeconomic issues like supply-chain disruptions.

The 18-year-old tech giant, which also faces pressure from platforms like TikTok and Google's YouTube, said it expected slowing revenue growth in the coming quarter due to increased competition for users' time and a shift of engagement toward such features as its short video offering Reels, which generate less revenue.

Facebook reported 2.91 billion monthly active users in the fourth quarter, showing no growth compared with the previous quarter.

The after-hours slump in Meta shares vaporized $200 billion of its market value, while peers Twitter Inc., Snap Inc. and Pinterest Inc. lost another $15 billion in value. Shares of Alphabet Inc., which posted record quarterly sales that topped expectations on February 1, were down nearly 2 percent.

Meta, owner of the second-largest digital ad platform in the world after Google, had previously warned its advertising business faced "significant uncertainty" in the fourth quarter. Meta's chief financial officer, Dave Wehner, told analysts on a conference call that the impact of Apple's privacy changes could be "in the order of $10 billion" for 2022.