"Metaverse Dream" makes Meta's stock price plummet, Zuckerberg's wealth shrinks by $71 billion

 

 According to reports, Meta head Mark Zuckerberg is obsessed with the "metaverse dream", however, this led him to encounter quite a tragedy in the "real world" loss of wealth.

 

　　2022 will be a tough year for all of America's tech giants. And among the biggest names in the industry, Zuckerberg's loss of wealth can be called "stand out."

 

　　According to statistics, Zuckerberg's personal wealth has lost half of this year, which is equivalent to evaporating $71 billion, which ranks first among the super-rich in the United States. At present, Zuckerberg's wealth is 55.9 billion US dollars, ranking 20th in the world's richest list, which is his lowest ranking since 2014, ranking less than the three members of the "Walton family", also behind Kobe Two members of the He family.

　About two years ago, Zuckerberg, 38, was a member of the world's super-elite club with a personal fortune of $106 billion, placing him only behind Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. In September 2021, Zuckerberg's wealth soared to $142 billion, creating a personal all-time peak. The reason behind it was that Facebook's stock price rose to a high of $382.

 

　　In October 2021, Zuckerberg grandly launched the concept of the metaverse and changed the company name to "Meta". Since then, Meta's stock price has been on the decline, and the company seems to be struggling to find its new position in the tech industry.

 

　　Meta's recent quarterly earnings have been disappointing. In February of this year, the company reported its fourth-quarter earnings report, which showed no growth in monthly active users on the Facebook platform (its main social product). The bad news sent Meta's stock price plummeting, costing Zuckerberg $31 billion in one day. US dollars of personal wealth, which is almost the worst single-day wealth loss of the richest in the history of the world.

 

　　Meta’s problem is not just Facebook. In order to fight against the booming short video platform TikTok, Meta’s Instagram launched the short video service “Reels”. This gamble did not go well. Fearing a future economic downturn, many businesses have scaled back online advertising spending, affecting Meta's short-video plans.

 

　　Metaverse plans to burn money

 

　　Laura Martin, a senior Internet industry analyst in the United States, pointed out that another important reason for dragging down Meta's stock price is the company's investment in the metaverse. Martin predicts that over the next three to five years, the Metaverse project will burn through Meta's huge cash pile.

 

　　Martin said that Zuckerberg is betting on the metaverse while trying to win back lost social tool users from TikTok. In addition, Meta has also faced excessive government regulatory pressure and interference.

 

　　The worst performers among tech stocks

Among the five "FAANG" tech stocks, Meta's share price has performed worse than the others this year. This year, Meta shares are down 57%, compared to Apple's 14% decline, Amazon's 26% decline and Google parent Alphabet's 29% decline. Video giant Netflix has fallen about 60% this year, and Meta is "catching up" with Netflix in terms of decline.

 

　　Tech industry analyst Mandeep Singh said Meta, the social giant, would have been close to Alphabet's metrics in all aspects, had it not been betting heavily on virtual reality. Singh believes that if Meta can spin off social tools such as WhatsApp or Instagram, it can avoid the negative impact of the entire company's market value being dragged down by the Metaverse plan.

 

　　Currently, almost all of Zuckerberg's wealth comes from Meta stock. Zuckerberg owns 3.5 million shares, according to the company's latest report, and Meta's most recent share price was around $146.

 

　　It is worth noting that in addition to the company name change, Zuckerberg is also mulling a personal role repositioning. Zuckerberg had a three-hour conversation on an audio show with well-known media personality Joe Rogan, who referred to himself many times as a "product designer."

SOURCE: china news