Mark Zuckerberg just took an $18 billion hit. The Meta CEO saw his personal fortune shrink on Thursday as the company’s stock tumbled nearly 9%, its worst single-day decline in almost five years.
Meta’s stock closed at $531.62, a steep drop that wiped out 8.85% of Zuckerberg’s net worth in just 24 hours. His fortune now stands at $184.1 billion, pushing him down to third place in the global wealth rankings.
The sell-off wasn’t just about Meta. Markets worldwide reacted sharply to newly announced U.S. tariffs, with tech stocks bearing the brunt of investor panic.
The White House introduced sweeping levies, including a 10% baseline tariff on all imports and targeted hikes of up to 25% on foreign-made cars. Wall Street took an immediate nosedive.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite plunged 5.7%, its most turbulent session since the early pandemic days. The S&P 500 shed 4.4%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 3.7%, as investors ditched stocks for safer assets like U.S. Treasury bonds.
Meta’s timing couldn’t have been worse. The company had been riding high on strong earnings, boasting $8.02 earnings per share and a 21% revenue increase year-over-year. Investors were betting big on its artificial intelligence (AI) push, with Meta AI and other initiatives showing promising traction.
But Thursday’s plunge shattered that rate, pulling the stock below its 200-day moving average. Technical analysts are now watching $530 as a key level—if the stock fails to hold, further declines to $505 or even $480 could be on the horizon.
Meta wasn’t the only tech giant feeling the heat. The world’s 500 wealthiest people collectively lost $208 billion on Thursday. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, saw $15.9 billion wiped off his fortune, while Elon Musk took an $11 billion hit.
For Mark Zuckerberg, the latest loss shows just how combustive the billionaire rankings can be. His fortune had increased earlier this year as Meta’s stock reached $740.89, driven by positiveness around its AI ventures and digital advertising boom. But as the market shifts, even tech’s biggest names are not immune.
Despite the sell-off, Meta still commands an audience of 3.3 billion daily active users across Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp. Its AI-powered tools are gaining traction, and Threads recently crossed 320 million monthly users.
Investors are now looking ahead to April 23, when Meta will report its first-quarter results. Analysts expect earnings per share between $5.19 and $5.33, with projected revenue reaching $41.8 billion.
Zuckerberg’s long-term commitment to giving away 99% of his Meta stake stays unchanged, but in the short term, all eyes are on whether the company can reassure investors and stabilise its stock.
