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August 17, 2021

Mark Zuckerberg loses $600M in one day of trading

Net worth is a funny metric for rich people, in that it’s a measure of what they’ve got in the bank but not really  a measure of what they’ve got in the bank.

For instance, there’s a reason the Forbes annual rich list changes each year, keeping most of the same people near the top but shuffling their standing from printing-to-printing (Warren Buffett, as an example, has been no. 2, no. 1, no. 2, no 3, no. 3 and no. 3 in the years since 2006).

We know why this is. Business founders and CEOs hold so much of their worth in company stock, which rises and falls and brings overall net worths with it.

So we get this, but still: it’s pretty shocking to see that someone like Mark Zuckerberg can lose $600 million in one measly day.

Facebook stock, as you know, hasn’t been so hot to trot since it debuted at its IPO earlier this year.

*Bing: Who is the richest man in Silicon Valley?

Down to less than $20 per share now from its $38 offering price, if you bought into the social network in May you’ve lost a bit since.

But imagine you’re Zuckerberg, the 28-year-old Facebook boss, and your net worth since the company went public is tied to the swells and swoons of its stock.

What happens is a day like Thursday, when Facebook shares dipped 6.3 per cent and took a few hundred million from the CEO’s pocketbook.

According to Bloomberg, Zuckerberg’s net worth fell $600 million during trading Thursday.

There are caveats, yes. Facebook stock only fell so much because the company freed up 271.1 million shares to boost the amount of stock available to investors. And Zuckerberg, for his part, is still worth more than $10 billion.

But it’s simply a remarkable decline, so otherworldly to normal people it bears note.

In fact, perhaps only Carlos Slim could relate.

By Jason Buckland, MSN Money

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Gordon PowersGordon Powers

A long-time fund company executive, Gordon Powers now heads up the Affinity Group, a financial services consulting firm. Gordon was a personal finance columnist for the Globe & Mail for many years, has taught retirement planning...

Jason BucklandJason Buckland

The modern-day MC Hammer of money, Jason can often be seen spending cash that isn’t his with the efficiency of a Wilt Chamberlain first date. After cutting his teeth as a reporter for the Toronto Sun, he joined the MSN Money team with...