Facebook loses over $119bn of value after disappointing results
Facebook suffered on Thursday the biggest one-day loss in US market history
Over $119bn was wiped off Facebook’s market value, including a $17bn hit to the fortune of founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, after the company said user growth was expected to slow in coming months.
Disappointing second quarter results showed the social media giant's revenues and user numbers fell short of expectations, while profits margins contracted as its battles to combat fake news and improve data protection after the Cambridge Analytica scandal and introduction of new data protection legislation in the EU. After a slowdown in revenue growth and contraction in operating margins, chief financial officer David Wehner warned the squeeze would continue for some time.
Facebook's shares fell 19% in the single Wall Street session, the biggest ever one-day drop in US market history. Shares fell to $176 valuing the company at $510bn, a drop of $119bn from nearly $630bn a day earlier.
Facebook’s one-day hit to its market cap is well above the $91bn Intel lost in September 2000; Exxon’s $53bn in the 2008 recession; and the $60bn Apple lost in 2013 after publishing disappointing results.
The loss saw CEO Mark Zuckerberg's fortune fall from $86.5bn to $70bn. In one day the founder of Facebook fell from being the 3rd richest person on the planet to the 6th.