The stock of Meta Platforms, owned by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, took a significant hit yesterday, causing a sharp decline in Zuckerberg’s wealth. By the end of trading on April 25, Meta Platforms shares had dropped by 11%, resulting in a loss of $18 billion for 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. As a result of the drop in share value, Zuckerberg slipped to the 4th position on the list of the world’s richest individuals, making way for Tesla CEO Elon Musk, whose assets increased by $5.8 billion as Tesla’s shares rose. The decline in Meta shares came after the company announced that second-quarter revenue might fall short of analysts’ expectations and raised its investment forecast in new AI products and support infrastructure to a range of $96-99 billion.
The recent excitement surrounding AI technology has helped push Meta’s stock towards its historical peak over the past month, despite this setback. However, concerns about payoff for these investments may take years to materialize have raised doubts among investors. Despite yesterday’s drop, Meta’s stock has seen a 25% increase since the beginning of the year and its market capitalization currently stands at around $1,120 billion.
The competitive landscape among the world’s richest individuals continues to shift as market dynamics and company performance play out. While Zuckerberg’s wealth took a hit with this decline in Meta shares, Musk’s fortunes have been on the rise thanks to Tesla’s performance.