Billionaire Zuckerberg’s Net Worth Drops $17.9 Billion as Meta Stocks Dip
New York, April 4, 2025 – Mark Zuckerberg, the billionaire co-founder and CEO of Meta Platforms, saw his personal fortune plummet by $17.9 billion on Thursday, April 3, as the social media giant’s stock took a brutal hit amid a broader market sell-off triggered by President Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariffs. Meta’s shares closed at $531.62, down 8.96%—its worst single-day performance since October 2022—slashing Zuckerberg’s net worth to $184.1 billion, according to Forbes’ real-time tracker, though he remains the world’s third-richest person.
A Tariff-Driven Tumble
The nosedive follows Trump’s April 2 “Liberation Day” tariff rollout—a 10% baseline levy on all imports, with targeted hikes like 54% on China and 20% on the EU—unleashing chaos across global markets. The S&P 500 shed 4.8% Thursday, its steepest drop since June 2020, while the Nasdaq fell 6%, dragging tech titans like Meta down with it. Zuckerberg’s loss topped a billionaire bloodbath: Jeff Bezos shed $15.9 billion as Amazon plunged 9%, and Elon Musk lost $11 billion, bringing his 2025 declines to $110 billion, per posts on X.
Meta, which derives 98% of its $39.9 billion 2024 Q4 revenue from advertising, faces heightened vulnerability as tariffs threaten to disrupt global supply chains and consumer spending—key drivers of ad demand. “Tech’s not immune to this trade war,” analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities told CNBC. “Meta’s stock is a casualty of macro panic.” Posts on X echoed the sentiment: “Zuck’s $17.9B loss shows even Big Tech can’t dodge Trump’s tariffs,” one user wrote.
From Peak to Peril
Zuckerberg’s fortune, tied to his 13% stake in Meta (roughly 345 million shares), has been a rollercoaster. After peaking at $252.2 billion in mid-February—boosted by a 20-day stock win streak—Meta shares have since cratered 28%, per Bloomberg data, erasing nearly $500 billion in market cap. Thursday’s 8.96% slide alone cost him $17.9 billion, outpacing his $7.1 billion hit from a February dip, though dwarfing the $31 billion he lost in a single day in February 2022.
Despite the blow, Zuckerberg’s $184.1 billion net worth keeps him ahead of LVMH’s Bernard Arnault ($177 billion) and Oracle’s Larry Ellison ($172 billion), trailing only Musk ($397 billion) and Bezos ($233 billion). Meta’s year-to-date gains—up 20% through 2025, adding $45 billion to his wealth—offer some cushion, but the tariff storm clouds loom large.
What’s Next for Meta?
The dip comes ahead of Meta’s Q1 2025 earnings on April 23, where analysts expect $5.19-$5.33 per share on up to $41.8 billion in revenue, fueled by AI bets like Llama 3 and Orion AR glasses. Yet, Thursday’s rout reflects investor jitters over tariffs’ long-term bite, not Meta’s fundamentals—its $1.3 trillion market cap still ranks it sixth globally. “This is panic selling, not a Meta problem,” Ives added, though he warned ad-reliant firms could face a “rough ride” if consumer costs soar.
As Trump’s trade war escalates—China’s 34% counter-tariffs loom April 10—Zuckerberg’s wealth, like Meta’s stock, hangs in the balance. For now, the billionaire’s “biggest loser” moment underscores a stark truth: even tech’s titans aren’t tariff-proof.
