The Man Who Lost $71 Billion And His Village Thinks He Has Not Lost Enough

God, can you make me as “poor” as Mark Zuckerberg. If that happens, that would be like leaving the solid bounds of earth to touch the face of heaven in a celestial moment. People, this dude has so much money that he lost $71 billion in 10 months. And now that he is pain free having been normalized by activists who have produced so much high voltage searchlights on his businesses, would he be left alone? Of all the leading technology companies we have, Facebook and its cousins (Instagram, WhatsApp) are the most vulnerable.

Yes, Apple defines the rules of engagement on tracking because it controls iOS. Google owns the front yard of the internet and has a massive sign post with Android on. Microsoft has its world, controlling a platform for enterprise customers. 

But Facebook (yes, Meta) is different. Yes, with no operating system to anchor, Facebook is vulnerable there.

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg has seen his wealth cut by $71 billion this year, according to Bloomberg, which adds, “even in a rough year for just about every US tech titan, the wealth erased from [Zuckerberg] stands out.” The billionaire, whose wealth exploded to $142 billion in September 2021 when the company’s shares hit $382, has since dropped 14 spots in Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index. While the entire tech industry was hit hard by the economic downturn, Facebook, which rebranded as Meta in 2021, is down approximately 57% this year, compared to peers such as Apple or Alphabet (down 14% and 29%, respectively). {LinkedIn News}

The regulators need to give this young man space; his company is not dominant even though it has many users! Why? The positioning is the weakest in big tech. But Mark is brilliant: he wants Facebook to become a platform for the future of the web; he hopes. That is why he is investing in metaverse and AR/VR so that he will own an operating system and be in charge of the digital evolutionary destiny. 

Meta officials are straining awfully hard to spin the company’s recent doldrums in their favor. As Axios reported Wednesday, the Instagram and Facebook parent has argued on multiple occasions that its falling market cap—about $389 billion, down from roughly $1 trillion this time last year—illustrates that the company isn’t a monopoly deserving of an antitrust crackdown. Meta currently faces investigations or lawsuits filed by the Federal Trade Commission, state attorneys general, and European Union regulators, each of whom is alleging some form of anti-competitive behavior by company officials. (Fortune)

Register for Tekedia Mini-MBA (Feb 10 - May 3, 2025), and join Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe and our global faculty; click here.