On Friday, Meta rose 21% intraday, with its market value increasing by about $200 billion, surpassing the previous best single-day performances of Apple and Amazon.Apple's market value increased by US$190.9 billion on November 10, 2022, Amazon increased by US$190.8 billion on February 4, 2022, and Nvidia increased by US$184.1 billion on May 25, 2023.
The latest strong rise in Meta's stock price was due to earnings reports that exploded after the U.S. stock market opened on Thursday. On the eve of Facebook's 20th anniversary, parent company Meta produced its strongest financial report in history. Both its fourth-quarter results and first-quarter guidance exceeded Wall Street expectations. It also announced an increase of $50 billion in stock repurchases and the first dividend in history. Meta shocked Wall Street with a quarterly dividend of 50 cents per share.
Meta's impressive performance is partly due to its success in slashing costs. The company will reduce its headcount by 22% in 2023. While controlling costs, Meta continues to advance in the field of artificial intelligence and invest heavily in layout. In addition, it also invests in background technology to help its social media products and provide support for its advertising positioning. "2023 is our year of efficiency." Zuckerberg expressed his satisfaction with Meta's performance last year at the beginning of the call.
Looking back on 2022, technology stocks plummeted due to the impact of inflation and the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes. Meta was one of the most seriously injured among major technology companies. It performed particularly badly under the impact of catastrophic financial reports, and its stock price plummeted 64% throughout the year. Zuckerberg's wealth once fell below $35 billion.
However, Meta has rebounded strongly since last year, rising nearly 200% throughout the year, benefiting from the rebound of the US stock market and its own outstanding financial reports. Financial reports at the end of October last year showed that Meta's quarterly revenue was the largest since it went public in 2012, as advertising demand rebounded and cost cutting and the development of new AI technology continued to benefit the company.
Media evaluation said that Meta is also expected to become one of the most powerful companies on Wall Street to make a comeback and turn around.
Along with the surge in Meta, Zuckerberg's wealth also surged by US$27 billion on Friday, and his current net worth reaches US$169.5 billion, setting his own personal wealth record and surpassing Bill Gates to rank fourth on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.In addition, Zuckerberg will receive about $700 million a year in dividends as Meta pays dividends to investors for the first time.
Zuckerberg holds about 350 million shares of Meta, which is about 13% of the shares. Regulatory filings earlier this month showed that Zuckerberg sold his Meta holdings on every trading day in the two months from November 1 last year to the end of the year. He sold nearly 1.28 million shares in two months and cashed out about $428 million.
According to a company spokesman, Zuckerberg sold Meta stock primarily to fund charitable activities. He and his wife, Priscilla, have previously pledged to use 99% of their wealth for charitable causes during their lifetime, such as promoting equality and treating disease.
In the ten years since Meta went public, Zuckerberg has regularly sold Meta stock except in 2022. Therefore, judging from past performance and the latest stock price on Friday, Zuckerberg's sale of Meta stock has no directional significance for the company's future stock price trend.