|
Mark
Zuckerberg's fortune sheds $71B as Meta Platforms'
stock struggles
Shares
of Meta Platforms have tumbled more than 56% year
to date
By
Lucas Manfredi
Mark
Zuckerberg has watched his fortune tank since his
social media company Facebook rebranded itself as
Meta Platforms in October 2021 and shifted its focus
to the metaverse.
According
to the Bloomberg Billionaire's Index, Zuckerberg has
lost $71 billion so far this year, landing him in
the 20th spot among global billionaires with a net
worth of $55 billion – his lowest ranking since
2014.
According
to Meta Platforms' latest proxy statement, Zuckerberg
owns more than 350 million shares of the company's
stock, which is down more than 56% year to date as
of the time of publication.
In
February, Zuckerberg's wealth took a massive hit after
the company reported weaker-than-expected earnings
in the fourth quarter of 2021.
During
the quarter, its Reality Labs segment, which focuses
on virtual and augmented reality and is crucial to
the company's metaverse ambitions, saw a fourth-quarter
operating loss of $3.3 billion. In addition, the company
forecast that Apple's privacy changes to iOS would
put a $10 billion dent in its revenue for 2022.
Since
then, the company's challenges have been further exacerbated
by growing economic uncertainty and increased competition
from TikTok.
In
its most recent quarter in July, the company reported
net income of $6.69 billion, or $2.46 per share, compared
to $10.39 billion, $3.61 per share, a year earlier.
Meanwhile, revenue fell to $28.82 billion from $29.08
billion a year earlier.
The
company expects third quarter 2022 revenue to be in
the range of $26 billion to $28.5 billion, citing
a continuation of weak advertising demand driven by
broader macroeconomic uncertainty. It also anticipates
that third quarter Reality Labs revenue will be lower
than the $452 million reported by the segment during
the second quarter.
Meta
implemented a hiring freeze for most mid- to senior
level positions in July. At the time, the company
said its hiring efforts were outpacing active recruiting
goals based on volume and changing business demand
in a post-pandemic market.
Meta
expects total expenses for 2022 to be in the range
of $85 billion to $88 billion, down from previous
guidance of $87 billion to $92 billion.
*click
here for full article and multimedia
(FOX
Business)
Social
Media
Greg
Tingle
A
strong news report by Lucas at Fox News. Facebook's
digital business challenges are not alone in the tech
or media sector, but may have the strongest news value.
Seems the FAANG factor has bitten a few of the major
players back over the past number of months, namely
Facebook and Apple. To their credit, Google is still
going strong (not counting the European business ruling
against them). 'N' for Netflix remains friendly, and
is facing competition from the likes of Murdoch's
tubi, Binge and Amazon Prime Video. Then in niche
social you have the new UFC - IRL deal, as per MMA
canvas branding as seen on PPV and appropriately named
Fight Night, with Fight Pass optional! Quality niche
like players are taking the fight to the FAANG's.
The fans aka public will decide. As always if you
can't find the product, it's you! Stay on the Fox
hunt to identify the hens, bulls, bears, good and
bad actors. Facebook is facing the music and gets
news impact they might do without. Zuck vs The World
in MTV 'Celebrity Death Match', or Musk and/or Trump
as a Truth or Dare no holds barred match-up!
| 
