Meta stock
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, experienced a staggering $2.79 billion decline in his net worth following a global outage that affected the company’s flagship social media platforms, Facebook and Instagram, on Tuesday. Despite this substantial financial hit, Zuckerberg maintained his position as the world’s fourth-richest person, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The hour-long disruption, which also impacted Meta’s social media app Threads and virtual reality platform Meta Quest, led to a 1.6% drop in Meta’s share price during the overnight trading session on Wall Street. The company’s shares closed at $490.22 apiece.
During the outage, users of Facebook, Instagram, and Threads encountered difficulties accessing the social media platforms, with many reporting “failure to load” error pages on both Instagram and Facebook. Some Instagram users noted that they could still view older stories despite the error, while many Facebook accounts were automatically logged out.
The outage also extended to YouTube, where users reported encountering errors while attempting to use the platform. However, the issue was resolved within approximately one hour, and all applications returned to normal functionality.
As users flocked to rival social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to express their frustrations, X owner Elon Musk seized the opportunity to mock Meta for the outage affecting its platforms.
The global disruption and the subsequent dip in Meta stock price directly impacted Zuckerberg’s personal wealth, highlighting the inherent volatility associated with the fortunes of tech billionaires. Despite the significant financial setback, Zuckerberg’s position among the world’s wealthiest individuals remains secure, at least for now.
This incident serves as a reminder of the interconnected nature of the digital landscape and the potential for widespread disruptions to have far-reaching consequences, not only for users but also for the companies behind these platforms and their high-profile leaders.
Source Mark Zuckerberg loses $3 billion after Facebook, Instagram global outage. Published in India today by Koustav Das