Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth has dropped by $70 billion this year, dropping him to the 20th richest person in the world, according to the latest estimates.
According to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index, Zuckerberg began the year with a wealth of $125 billion. However, according to the statistics, it has dropped to $55.3 billion, slightly over 55%. According to Forbes, his net worth is $53.4 billion.
Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus, has had a turbulent year since Zuckerberg said it would become a “metaverse” business and presented a big rebranding last October. Following that, Facebook reported its first-ever drop in user numbers, dropping around one million daily active users in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Last October, whistleblower Frances Haugen leaked information from the company’s internal documents, including claiming to have seen an internal study that suggested Instagram contributed to eating problems and suicidal thoughts among young females.
Meta’s net income dropped 36%, or more than $3 billion, in the second quarter compared to the same time in 2021.
In an April proxy statement, the company had spent about $10 billion on metaverse investments in 2021, accounting for roughly half of its capital spending. According to Meta, approximately 10,000 people were working on metaverse projects in April.
“The metaverse business for us isn’t really going to be a meaningful contributor to the business until, at a minimum, much later in this decade, and probably realistically, this decade is going to be about setting the foundation for that and then the 2030s are really where this is going to contribute a lot to the profits of this company,” Zuckerberg said during the company’s annual shareholder meeting in May.
He said successful businesses should invest heavily in research and development to drive the world ahead.
In 2022, Meta has reduced recruiting due to an economic slowdown that has hit the tech sector. According to Reuters, Meta has decreased its employment objective for engineers this year by around one-third.
