Metaverse
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-$700 Billion
Meta shares tumbled 24% on Thursday to its lowest level in nearly four years following an earnings report that one Wall Street analyst described as a "train wreck." It's a far cry from the company's position nearly a year ago, when CEO Mark Zuckerberg on October 28, 2021, announced with great fanfare that Facebook was changing its name to Meta Platforms to emphasize its focus on the "metaverse."
Last fall, Facebook was still riding high: Its market value reached a peak of more than $1 trillion in September 2021. Revenue and profits were surging as advertisers flocked to Facebook and Instagram to reach their billions of users.
To be sure, practically the entire tech industry has taken a beating this year, but Meta's stock plunge has far outpaced the overall sector, with its shares down 67% from a year earlier compared with the tech-heavy Nasdaq's 31% slide over the same period. Meta's plunge translates into an eye-popping loss of about $700 billion in market value.
On Thursday, Meta's market value sank to $268 billion, down from more than $1 trillion in September of 2021. The shares regained some ground on Friday morning, rising $1.72, or about 1.8%, to $99.66 per share.
The company's travails raise questions about its all-in bet on the metaverse, as well as whether the social media company could suffer the fate of other major businesses whose gambles on the future failed to pay off. In the near-term, Meta's core Facebook business is facing challenges as the economy slows and advertisers trim spending.