Mark Zuckerberg's Empire Is Now Crumbling
Has any company in history made more bad decisions?
A year ago, I warned readers about Meta in a provocative article entitled “Is This What a Bubble Looks Like at the Top?” I had many reasons for skepticism about Mark Zuckerberg’s empire, but focused on a single absurd fact in the opening paragraphs.
Meta fans were angry at me, but subsequent events have validated my concerns. Meta’s shares have fallen almost $250 per share since then—that’s a decline of half a trillion dollars in market value.
And the situation at Meta is now getting worse, not better:
Earlier this year, daily active users on Facebook and Instagram declined for the first time ever. This is devastating news for the Meta—because the company’s social media business pays the bills for all its boondoggles.
A few days ago, Zuckerberg talked about a plan for selling Meta’s excess AI computing capacity. This shocked Wall Street—Zuckerberg is spending hundreds of billions on new data centers. But that makes no sense if the company already has excess computing power.
Meta’s quarterly investor call yesterday made matters even worse. Earnings were far below estimates, but free cash flow numbers were a total disaster—down more than 90%. Guidance for the future was (no surprise here) cautious, and Zuckerberg refused to give any estimate of next year’s capital investments, which are already out-of-control and spooking investors.
Zuckerberg used the occasion to publish a bizarre opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal—proclaiming himself as a champion of human potential and an opponent of centralized power. This is the same guy who laid off 8,000 employees a few days ago, and is building a data center as large as Manhattan. By the way, Zuckerberg himself can’t be fired—because he limits the voting rights of most shareholders.
Yes, it’s been a bad week for Mr. Z. But all of the above is just the tip of the iceberg.
Below are nine far more terrible revelations about Meta—much worse than the earnings call yesterday. They paint a disturbing picture of a business out of control and descending into chaos.
After looking at them, you will legitimately ask if any company has made more bad decisions in the history of capitalism.