Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg took a hit to his net worth this year. According to the New York Post, Zuckerberg lost more than half his net worth — a total of $71 billion.
How did Zuckerberg lose so much money?
Zuckerberg’s fortune took a dip from $125 billion to $53.4 billion since the beginning of this year. According to Insider, Meta has had a difficult year since its massive rebrand.
The rebrand of Facebook to Meta, and focus on the “metaverse,” cost $10 billion in investments last year alone, according to the New York Post.
In February, the company reported a decrease in Facebook users, which caused a collapse in stock price, according to Bloomberg.
Another contributor to Meta’s decline and Zuckerberg’s fortune is the brand’s controversy when Frances Haugen leaked documents about research which found that Instagram influenced eating disorders and suicidal thoughts in teenage girls.
Meta social sites have also lost users to TikTok. The video platform has been competition to Meta. The company reported its first revenue decline in history in July.
Meta’s decline in revenue
According to Fortune, in the first three months of this year, Meta lost $2.96 billion.
One factor of this decrease in revenue is Apple’s App Tracking Transparency, which lets iPhone users determine whether they want apps, such as Facebook, to track online activities to target advertisements, per The New York Times.
Apple’s update provides less data for Facebook to make money from its main source of income, advertising revenue.