Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg saw his net worth plummet by a staggering $71 billion in 2022 alone, Bloomberg report stated. What could possibly be the reason?
Volatile Stock Market in the Tech Industry
The Forbes billionaires list now places 38-year-old Zuckerberg at number 22, down from his previous position of 3rd richest man in the world.
This was caused by the decline of Meta's stock, which makes up the majority of Zuckerberg's wealth. Stock markets have been relatively erratic since the start of 2022 due to worries about an impending recession, according to Interesting Engineering.
Zuckerberg's net worth has decreased along with Facebook's shares since it changed its name to Meta over a year ago. We will discuss this later on in this article.
In particular, the valuation of Meta decreased by 57%. The founder and CEO of Meta owns 350 million shares, and as a result, he has suffered a considerable decline in his personal wealth as well.
When Facebook shares reached an all-time high of $382 in September of last year, Zuckerberg's personal fortune grew to $142 billion from its prior estimate of $106 billion.
Other Billionaire's Were Affected Too
In the past year, other tech behemoths also experienced difficulties. The stock price of Alphabet, the parent company of Google, has witnessed a 29% decline in valuation.
Meanwhile, Apple, the world's most valuable company, has dropped by 14%.
Many tech billionaires' personal wealth has also been affected by the 2022 stock market crash.
The world's richest people lost a huge amount of fortune: Elon Musk lost $2.55 billion, Jeff Bezos lost $44.4 billion, and Bill Gates lost $26.2 billion, according to Fortune.
Experts' Take on Meta's Valuation
In the long run, experts believe that spinning off companies like WhatsApp and Instagram could help Meta with its declining valuation.
Meanwhile, some experts believe that Meta's leadership should have a reset or a thorough overhaul.
What Could Be the Cause of Meta's Reduced Valuation
In February, Meta revealed its first-ever decline in user numbers along with declining revenue.
Meta has also boosted spending by about $10 billion annually to complete the virtual reality Metaverse. However, there are investors who are concerned about spending huge amionjuts of money without a guarantee of a return.
However, Zuckerberg's optimism doesn't seem to have been affected by this. The Meta CEO reiterated his confidence that the metaverse would make people's relationships with technology more "useful" when he spoke with podcast host Joe Rogan last month.
Separately, last year's Apple iOS 14 updates hampered tracking for advertisers. According to CFRA analyst Angelo Zino, who specializes in social media companies, Meta and Snap depend most heavily on iOS users, as per CBS News.
