10 Meta-Investors Lose $211 Billion to Mark Zuckerberg’s Madness

Who could put the brakes on Mark Zuckerberg’s costly swing plan? meta platforms (META) into the Metaverse? It has to be one of the investors who suffer the biggest losses.

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Only 10 meta-investors other than Mark Zuckerberg, including many ETF giants like Vanguard and Black Rock (BLK), hold most of the company formerly known as Facebook, according to an analysis by Investor’s Business Daily using data from S&P Global Market Intelligence and MarketSmith. As a group, they own a third of the company, even surpassing Zuckerberg’s #1 position with 13%.

And those investors have the most to lose from the company’s decision a year ago to switch from lucrative social media to sickening virtual reality. They’ve watched more than $211 billion in market value disappear in their own current positions this year. They’ve lost even more than Zuckerberg, who lost $85 billion.

“Meta, which was already struggling to adapt to changes in Apple’s mobile advertising tracking policies, saw its ad revenue decline about 4% year over year in the September quarter,” according to a report by S&P Global Market Intelligence. “Meta is in the process of shifting its core focus from social media to the future Metaverse, which is also not resonating well with investors.”

The meta debacle

Meta-investors are paying a heavy price for the company’s decision to move its business about a year ago.

This year alone, Meta shares are down more than 73% to 89.48. That slashed the company’s market value by more than $650 billion. Meta’s drop in market value is more than what 99% of companies in the S&P 500 are worth individually. It also makes Meta the worst-performing stock in the S&P 500 this year.

And if you own mutual funds and ETFs, you hold a large chunk of losses, too. Meta alone has a 17% position in the Communication Services Select Sector SPDR (XLC), a 12% position in the Vanguard Communication Services ETF (VOX), and a 10% position in the iShares Global Communication Services ETF (IXP).

But will these ETF giants speak out?

Who is holding the meta bag?

Meta is a bit unusual among S&P 500 companies in that founder Zuckerberg is still a top shareholder with 347.8 million shares. But ETF giants as a group own even more than he does.

Vanguard is the second largest holder of the stock with 180.4 million shares. That accounts for more than 6.8% of the company. And because of that massive position size, Vanguard has lost more than $44 billion in shares this year.

Another ETF giant, BlackRock, is the third-largest holder of Meta stock with 152 million shares, worth 5.7% of the company. BlackRock has lost more than $37 billion in shares this year. Rounding out the top five holders are other players in ETFs and mutual funds, such as American Funds’ parent company Capital Research with a 4.5% position and Fidelity FMR with 4.2%.

Several co-founders also remain in the top 10, such as Eduardo Saverin with his 2% position and Dustin Moskovitz with just under 1%. But it will be up to the big fund companies to speak up. Activist investors only own a tiny part of the company so far. The New York State Common Retirement Fund owns just 0.18% and DE Shaw 0.13%

The question now is, will any activists be lured in by Meta’s suddenly lower price?

Biggest Meta Losers

Top Meta Platforms stock holders and their paper losses so far this year

Sources: S&P Global Market Intelligence, IBD

Follow Matt Krantz on Twitter @dull wreath

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