Facebook has recorded the biggest fall in corporate history as its value plunged by £84 billion on Wall Street.
The drop saw 18 per cent wiped off the value of the social media giant’s share price within minutes of the New York stock exchange bell ringing today. The website’s CEO and co-founder, Mark Zuckerberg lost £12.78 billion of his estimated £60 billion fortune. Traders in New York dubbed the day’s trading “Facebook Thursday”. The collapse came a day after Facebook reported disappointing second-quarter earnings.
“Management commentary about decelerating top line growth during a quarter where the company fell short of ad revenue for the first time is what has led to the stock’s after-hours performance,” analysts for banking giant Goldman Sachs wrote in a note to its clients. Investors frantically sold off their shares, causing the dramatic drop in value.The sell-off eclipses the £69 billion wiped off the value of Intel during the depths of the dot-com bust on one day in September 2000.
Facebook investors may yet see the price drop further after the company warned of further falls. Chief Financial Officer David Wehner (corr) said shareholders can expect “revenue growth rates to decline by high single-digit percentages from prior quarters” for the third and fourth quarter. Facebook currently has 2.19 billion monthly active users around the world.
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