Facebook stock suffered the largest one-day loss of any publicly traded company in history when its shares plunged nearly 20 percent Thursday, erasing about $120 billion of the social media giant’s market value. Some shareholders are now saying co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is part of the problem.
Once a darling of Wall Street, Facebook has long been one of the market’s best-performing tech stocks but with its announcement this week that the company’s growth may be slowing after an avalanche of scandals involving misinformation and data misuse, it’s becoming apparent Facebook’s prosperity isn’t guaranteed, reports CBS News’ Bianna Golodryga.
The social media giant pledged to resolve the issues through television ads and top management.
“The entire company is focused. We’re adding over 10,000 people, we’re using technology to help us find bad actors and bad behavior,” Carolyn Everson, Facebook’s VP of global marketing solutions, said on “CBS This Morning” back in May.
On Capitol Hill in April, lawmakers questioned whether Zuckerberg was doing enough to correct the course, prompting an apology from the founder.
“We didn’t take a broad enough view of our responsibility, and that was a big mistake. And it was my mistake, and I’m sorry,” Zuckerberg told lawmakers.
All that turbulence caught up to Facebook on Thursday when a mixed earnings report forced some investors to dump shares of the company.
Investor Matthew Patsky is CEO of Trillium Asset Management, which owns Facebook shares on behalf of its clients. He’s critical of Facebook’s leadership structure, and says Zuckerberg needs to reduce his role.
“The controversies have been from a lack of good controls in place,” Patsky said.
Patsky said his company’s next ask of Facebook and its board is just that – a separation of chair and CEO.
But Wired editor-in-chief and CBS News contributor Nicholas Thompson sees no signs of Zuckerberg giving up his power.
“If the stock keeps going down and down, then pressure could come at Zuckerberg. But, again, I don’t think he’ll be forced out,” Thompson said.
Zuckerberg personally lost nearly $16 billion in Thursday’s slide. That’s enough money to buy some of the most expensive major league baseball teams, including the Yankees, the Dodgers, the Cubs, and the Red Sox combined. He’s now estimated to be the sixth richest person in the world, falling from third.
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