Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, experienced a colossal loss of nearly $3 billion. This financial blow followed an hour-long global outage of Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, among the popular social media platforms under his corporation.
How the Global Outage Impacted Zuckerberg’s Wealth
Following the temporary shutdown of Facebook and Instagram, Zuckerberg’s net worth plummeted by $2.79 billion. Greater than the GDP of many small countries, the loss, while it may seem insurmountable, brought Zuckerberg’s net worth down to $176 billion, according to comprehensive financial reports from India Today.
Despite the steep descent, Zuckerberg remains unscathed as the world’s fourth richest person, as per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Even in the face of adversity, the resilience of the tech tycoon continues to inspire.
The prevalence of the outage instigated a 1.6% drop in Meta’s shares and precipitated this depreciation of Zuckerberg’s net wealth. Meta shares concluded the overnight trading session on Wall Street at $490.22 per share.
User Experience During the Outage
During the duty hour on Tuesday night, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads users were confronted with problems when trying to access their accounts. This unusual occurrence wasn’t limited to Meta’s applications. Meta Quest users had difficulty logging into their headsets, and quite a few YouTube users reported errors.
Throughout this hour-long outage, Facebook and Instagram users were met by “failure to load” error pages. While some users could still view older stories, many Facebook accounts were automatically logged out.
Public Reaction to the Outage
During the turmoil, frustrated users resorted to Elon Musk’s platform, X, formally known as Twitter, venting about the inconvenience caused by the shutdown.
Elon Musk, a long-standing rival of Zuckerberg, seized the moment to mock the unfortunate outage faced by Meta platforms. This incident served as a sharp reminder of the unpredictable nature of the tech world and the potential vulnerabilities even at the summit of the digital pyramid.