Mark Zuckerberg's net worth drops by nearly $18 billion as Meta shares slide on AI spending concerns
Mark Zuckerberg saw his net worth decline by nearly $18 billion on Thursday as Meta shares experienced a 9% plunge, marking the stock's worst single-day loss this year. The decline follows a 21.7% slide over the last 11 trading sessions, driven by investor concerns over the company's aggressive spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure. While Meta's revenue topped projections at $60.8 billion, quarterly earnings of $6.18 per share fell well below analyst estimates of $7.18. Analysts have expressed concern regarding the firm's ability to deliver on AI revenue, with several firms trimming their price targets. Conversely, Microsoft's stock soared 15% after reporting that its AI work assistant, Microsoft 365 Copilot, now has over 30 million paid users. Meta is also expanding its physical infrastructure, announcing a $14 billion data center project in El Paso, Texas, in partnership with BlackRock. Despite the heavy capital expenditures, Meta's Reality Labs unit performed better than expected, recording a loss of $4.6 billion against a projected loss of $5.07 billion.