Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth fell by nearly $5 billion as Meta shares fell on Thursday, knocking him out of the ranks of the world’s richest after Reuters reported that the company projected a significant portion of its revenue would come from scam advertising.
Key data
Meta shares fell 2.3% to around $620.75 on Thursday morning, adding to a decline of about 17.5% in the past week, including a single-day drop of more than 11% after the company released its third-quarter results.
Zuckerberg, who at the beginning of last week was the third richest person in the world, behind Oracle’s Larry Ellison ($298.8 billion) and Tesla’s Elon Musk ($496.5 billion), now sits behind No. 3 Jeff Bezos ($257 billion); number 4, Larry Page ($235 billion), and number 5, Sergey Brin ($217.9 billion).
Zuckerberg, who owns approximately 13% of Meta’s shares, saw his net worth reduced by $4.6 billion (2.1%) due to the decline in the company’s stock market value.
Reuters reported Thursday, citing internal documents, that Meta projected that 10% of its total revenue — estimated at $16 billion — would come from advertising scams and banned products.
Meta spokesman Andy Stone told Reuters that the documents cited by the outlet “present a selective view that distorts Meta’s approach to fraud and scams,” noting that internal estimates were lower and that the 10% figure included “many” legitimate ads.
Stone declined to provide an updated figure (Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Forbes). Other documents indicated that the company was being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for publishing financial scam ads, Reuters reported.
UK regulators noted in 2023 that Meta’s products were involved in 54% of all payments-related scam losses that year, more than double that of all other social platforms combined.
Find out: Meta is amassing a fortune from an ‘avalanche’ of fraudulent ads on its platforms, according to documents
Key background
Meta shares had recovered after falling to their lowest level in April, although they have seen a steady decline in recent days. This recent drop came after the release of third-quarter results, which showed earnings per share of $1.05, 84% below economists’ projections, according to FactSet.
Meta explained that this decline was due to a $15.9 billion extraordinary tax charge related to President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, adding that earnings per share would have been $7.25 without the charge.
The company also raised its capital spending guidance from $66 billion to $72 billion to $70 billion to $72 billion. Zuckerberg stated that this change was necessary, as Meta was “aggressively” preparing for the arrival of superintelligence.
This article was originally published by Forbes US
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