Facebook just lost more than $100 billion off its value

Image: Getty Images/sean gallup

Think you had a bad day? Talk to Mark Zuckerberg. 

Facebook reported its second quarter earnings Wednesday and the results, which were worse than expected, sent the company’s stock into free fall, wiping out more than $100 billion off Facebook’s market value.

The social media company reported revenue of $13.23 billion and 1.47 billion daily active users. Both numbers were just shy of analyst expectations, which had put revenue at $13.36 billion and daily active users at 1.49 billion.

The miss wasn’t entirely unexpected, despite analysts’ predictions. Zuckerberg and other executives have been warning for months that Facebook’s efforts to retool News Feed to promote “time well spent” and new GDPR regulations would ultimately result in less growth and fewer ad dollars.

“As I’ve said on past calls, we’re investing so much in security that it will significantly impact our profitability. We’re starting to see that this quarter,” Zuckerberg said.

Still, investors were shook. Facebook’s stock continued to nosedive during the call with investors, who pressed the company on its slowing growth and future ad revenue.

Investors were spooked by more than just the company’s lackluster performance this quarter, though.

Facebook’s daily active users didn’t grow at all in the United States, its most lucrative ad market, and the social network actually lost 3 million DAUs in Europe as a result of new privacy regulations. Even in other regions where Facebook is still growing, it’s growing at a far slower rate than previous quarters.

Other areas of concern: Facebook Chief Operating Office Sheryl Sandberg noted that Facebook is unsure whether ads in Stories, Facebook’s fastest growing format, will monetize as well as News Feed ads have. And CFO David Wehner said the company expects revenue growth to decline by “high single digits” in the next two quarters.

Instagram remained a bright spot for the company, with Zuckerberg saying the app’s recent growth proves what an “amazing success” the acquisition had been. He and Sandberg plugged IGTV and the growth of Instagram ads in Stories. 

Facebook also tried to take some of the attention off its main app by sharing a new stat about the company’s “family of apps.” More than 2.5 billion people used at least one of its apps — Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, or WhatsApp — during the month of June.

“We are still growing and predicting growth at very healthy rates,” Sandberg said.