Zuckerberg loses $ 6 billion in hours as Facebook plunges

(Bloomberg) – Mark Zuckerberg’s personal fortune fell by more than $ 6 billion in a matter of hours, knocking him down a notch on the list of the richest people in the world, after a whistleblower came forward and that blackouts took Facebook Inc.’s flagship products offline.

Bloomberg’s Most Read

A massive sell-off caused the social media giant’s shares to fall 4.9% on Monday, adding to a decline of around 15% since mid-September.

Monday’s stock decline caused Zuckerberg’s value to drop to $ 121.6 billion, pushing him below Bill Gates to No.5 on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. It is down nearly $ 140 billion in just a few weeks, according to the index.

© BloombergTop of the charts

On September 13, the Wall Street Journal began publishing a series of articles based on a cache of internal documents, revealing that Facebook was aware of a wide range of issues with its products, such as the damage Instagram caused to teenage mental health and misinformation about the Jan.6 Capitol riots – while downplaying problems in public. The reports caught the attention of government officials and on Monday the whistleblower came to light.

In response, Facebook pointed out that the issues facing its products, including political polarization, are complex and are not caused by technology alone.

“I think it reassures people to assume that there must be a technological or technical explanation for the problems of political polarization in the United States,” Nick Clegg, vice president of global affairs for Facebook, told CNN.

(Updates with closing numbers throughout.)

Bloomberg Businessweek Most Read

© 2021 Bloomberg LP