How low can Meta go?
On February 3, Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, saw its share price collapse, losing $232 billion, establishing a record for the biggest daily drop in stock market history.
The drop was newsworthy for its sheer volume, but many analysts interpreted it in the context of the company’s many scandals: a sharp fall, and then a rebound as advertisers realized that no other company was as efficient as spying on its users and giving them the information they needed to target potential customers. The company was toxic, but very valuable.
However, as I wrote a fortnight later when I noted that, as expected, the value of Facebook’s shares had still not recovered, this was different. This was structural. Now, the fall was due to Apple’s decision to offer its users a way to stop being spied on, with 96% of of them opting for the new service, with the remaining 4% not doing so because they probably pressed the worng button or didn’t understand the question. Almost immediately, advertising on Meta properties no longer offered the laser focus it once had.
