Facebook just set a $119 billion record for failure

Image: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/getty

Mark Zuckerberg has done it again. 

The Boy King of Silicon Valley is renowned for creating the world’s largest social network, potentially swinging at least one US presidential election, and suing native Hawaiians to keep them off his 700-acre-island estate. But on Thursday, he adds another questionable feather to his surveillance-capitalism cap: Overseeing the largest single-day stock loss in US history. 

That’s right, it’s official: As of the closing bell today, Facebook’s market cap had dropped 19 percent. That’s a roughly $119 billion loss in value. You see, it seems that Wall Street wasn’t stoked Wednesday when the social media behemoth reported revenue and daily active-user numbers below expectations.  

But it’s not all doom and gloom in Facebook land. After all, the haters were loving it. 

For almost three hours today, CNBC live-streamed Facebook’s plummeting stock. “Facebook is plunging, erasing billions in market value,” the tweet teased. “Watch it trade LIVE.”

Oh, and people watched. Around 13,000 of them, in fact. 

Others seemed to bask in the inarguably fun sight of an out of touch rich hypocrite getting even just the tiniest bit of financial comeuppance. 

But unfortunately for all those wishing Zuckerberg himself would feel the squeeze, the CEO is still criminally rich, despite today’s crash. For starters, CNBC notes that Facebook’s market cap now sits at a comfortable $510 billion. Bloomberg, for its part, reports that Zuckerberg’s personal worth is still around $70.6 billion — making him the world’s sixth-richest person. 

So in spite of today’s record decline, both Facebook and Zuckerberg will be fine. It’s too bad, really. They both might have benefited from a little reality check.