Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg lost $3.7 billion from his net worth in the two hours after the market closed on Wednesday, as the company’s stock price sank despite strong third-quarter results.
Zuckerberg’s fortune fell to $50.6 billion as of 6 p.m. Eastern time, according to FORBES estimates. He’s still the fifth-richest person in the world, according to FORBES, right behind Warren Buffett at number 4 and ahead of Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helu at number 6. When markets closed on Wednesday, Zuckerberg’s net worth was $54.4 billion.
This year’s previous two earnings reports were a boon for Zuckerberg’s pocketbook. After the company announced second-quarter results in July, a stock surge added $3.4 billion to his net worth in the hour after markets closed. In April, when first-quarter results were announced, he gained $4.2 billion within two-and-a-half hours after markets closed.
Facebook’s stock price dipped by around 7% in after-hours trading to $118.36, as of 6 p.m. The drop came despite the company reporting $7 billion in quarterly revenues, up 56% from the same period a year earlier. That beat expectations of analysts polled by Yahoo Finance, who on average expected a 44% increase to $6.9 billion in revenues for the quarter. Net income for the quarter hit $2.4 billion, a 166% increase from last year.
Facebook has also continued to attract new users, despite competition from rivals like Snapchat. Facebook reached 1.79 billion monthly users this quarter, up 16% from a year ago, with the vast majority logging on through mobile devices.
Facebook shares closed at $127.26 on Wednesday, up about 22% since the beginning of the year, but down 1.7% since Tuesday’s closing price.
