Since unveiling Facebook Inc.’s so-called “metaverse” and launching a major rebrand as Meta in October 2021, CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s billionaire fortune has plummeted, Bloomberg reports.
Per Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index, the 38-year-old tech giant began 2022 with a net worth of $125 billion. But his fortune has tanked about 55% over the last nine months to an estimated $55.3 billion, ranking him at his lowest spot on the index since 2014 at No. 20.
Less than two years ago he ranked third on the index, behind Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates. As recently as September 2021, Zuckerberg’s wealth reached a peak of $142 billion when the company hit a high through the coronavirus pandemic and shares were priced at $382.
Bloomberg cites the shift from Facebook Inc. to Meta Platforms Inc. as a turning point, writing, “it’s been largely downhill from there as it struggles to find its footing in the tech universe.”
Among the keystones of its downhill trajectory are reporting zero growth in monthly Facebook users in Q1 of this year, which resulted in a major falloff on the stock market; Zuckerberg’s over-investment on Instagram Reels against competitor TikTok; and the company’s burgeoning metaverse, an initiative that Zuckerberg has said will lose the company “significant” amounts of money over the next three to five years.
In all, Bloomberg reports that Meta is down 57% this year. Comparatively, other Big Tech peers are also down, but not by nearly as much: 14% for Apple Inc., 26% for Amazon.com Inc. and 29% for Google parent Alphabet Inc. Meta is nearly reaching the lows of Netflix, which is down 60% this year.
