Shares of Facebook owner Meta plummeted 26% on Thursday in what could be the worst single-day wipeout in market value for a U.S. company, after the social media giant issued a dismal forecast, blaming Apple Inc’s privacy changes and increased competition.
The huge drop, erasing over $200 billion from Meta’s market capitalization and $29 billion from Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth , spilled over to the broader technology sector and dragged the Nasdaq Composite Index lower.
It marked the company’s worst one-day loss since its Wall Street debut in 2012.
“Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg may be keen to coax the world into an alternate reality, but disappointing fourth-quarter results were quick to burst his metaverse bubble,” said Laura Hoy, an equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
Big U.S. tech-focused companies have come under mounting pressure in 2022 as investors expect policy tightening at the U.S. Federal Reserve to erode the industry’s rich valuations following years of ultra-low interest rates. The Nasdaq, which is dominated by tech and other growth stocks, fell more than 9% in January, its worst monthly drop since the coronavirus-induced market crash in March 2020..ReadMore…
