Shares of Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. plummeted Thursday after the social-media company missed its quarterly forecast and outlined a laundry list of business pressures ranging from the rise of TikTok to Apple Inc.’s privacy changes.
The stock fell 26% in Thursday trading, marking its worst single-day percentage decline on record.
According to Dow Jones Market Data, Meta’s FB, -26.39 percent stock drop shaved $232 billion off the company’s market value, the most significant single-day decline in market value for any U.S. company on record. That loss in market value is greater than the combined market values of Netflix Inc. NFLX, -5.56 percent, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. AMD, -2.18 percent, and AT&T Inc. T, +0.08 percent. Meta’s report and commentary raised difficult questions about the future of Facebook’s leading platform. As we know, it has lost appeal among younger users but retains an appealing financial profile.
Meta Also Highlighted Apple (AAPL)
It’s no surprise that core blue is maturing; TikTok is gaining traction among the younger demographic; however, this comes after one of the most tumultuous Meta conference calls in years.
Meta also highlighted Apple AAPL, -1.67 percent privacy-related changes, which the company implied may not be affecting all digital-ad players equally. The changes require apps to obtain users’ permission before tracking their activity across apps and sites. However, Apple does not need such prompts for its Safari browser. Google is willing to pay to be the default search engine.
It means that search ads may have far more access to third-party data for measurement and optimization than app-based ad platforms.
According to BMO Capital Markets analyst Daniel Salmon, this discussion was one of Apple’s earnings call’s “more intriguing” parts. After the report, Salmon downgraded Meta’s stock to market performance outperforming while lowering his price target to $290 from $425.
