Facebook Takes Historic Plunge as Scandals Finally Take a Toll

[swag]

Source: Bloomberg

Facebook Inc. plunged as much as 20 percent Thursday after months of scandal and criticism finally hit the company where it hurts: growth.

The social-media goliath’s financial performance had previously seemed immune to fierce critiques of its content policies, its failure to safeguard private data, and its changing rules for advertisers. But on Wednesday Facebook reported sales and user growth numbers for the second quarter that fell short of analysts’ projections, leaving investors reeling.

The company’s shares fell the most in its history as a public company, wiping out more than $120 billion in market value. It marks the largest ever loss of value in one day for a U.S. traded company. The stock was trading at $179.92 at 9:41 a.m. in New York.

The company told Wall Street the numbers won’t get any better this year. Chief Financial Officer David Wehner said revenue growth rates would decline in the third and fourth quarters. Analysts who follow Facebook were blindsided, asking frequently on a conference call with executives for more information on exactly how the company’s financial future had changed so dramatically.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-26/facebook-growth-prospects-stalled-by-scandal-regulation

[Girard442]

1. Good riddance. FB is a sewer.

[jrthin]

13. Couldn't agree with you more. nt

[ChiTownDenny]

28. + 1

[maxsolomon]

32. apparently you've yet to hear of twitter

my FB feed is mostly people on vacation, anti-trump raging, and funny animal videos.

[Fred Sanders]

33. Which would be the sub-sewer, favourite haunt of Shitler. No wonder he complains of the cleaning out

now happening of the vermin.

[Bengus81]

2. Down almost 42.00 per share today........

Two days ago it closed at 217.00--today it's trading at 176.00. Rats leaving the ship Zuck......

[Yavin4]

3. New data privacy rules in the EU probably have more to do with this

Millions of user data is now no longer readily available.

[Bengus81]

10. It's all about earnings,big time investors don't care about new rules unless

it eventually hurts the revenue stream. Their earnings are down and growth is down. This could easily tank another 20.00 per share.

[Yavin4]

38. Those new EU rules prevent free access to user data

Which makes Facebook less profitable overall.

[Botany]

4. Theresa Moore Hong, the Trump campaign's Digital Content Director,

“Without Facebook, we wouldn’t have won. Facebook really and truly put us over
the edge,” said Hong. “Facebook was the medium that proved most successful for
this campaign.*”

http://www.cbc.ca/passionateeye/features/how-facebook-was-harnessed-to-micro-target-voters-and-promote-donald-trump

* Trump's campaign used Facebook to spread the lies that the GRU and Cambridge Analytica thought
would be the most useful in "a digital washing" of potential voters w/misinformation. I have an old
and dear friend who was totally sucked in by the Russian produced propaganda that was spread on
Facebook. He repeated back to me the "Hillary's email server was a security problem" meme.

Zuckerberg's, "it was a problem with a bad ap and a security glitch" is pure bullshit because facebook had
employees working hand and hand w/Cambridge Analytica @ Trump's HQ.

[dalton99a]

9. +1. Trump couldn't have won without Facebook and Twitter

and the countless Russian bots and trolls that occupied those platforms

[Botany]

24. Russia was into Wisconsin @ the county level

https://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/news/2017/01/23/russians-suspected-hacking-local-dems/96965824/

<While no one can prove beyond doubt that Russians also were involved in the local hack job, two hackers left “calling cards” with Russian email addresses on the local websites in an apparent gesture of contempt or braggadocio, Ginnebaugh said. Green Bay police were notified and have forwarded information to the FBI, she said.>

[Dave Starsky]

42. "Occupied?" You mean occupy.

Occasionally, I run across right wingers at work spouting the most fantastic horseshit I have ever heard. Stories so absolutely preposterous, even a fairly well-studied fifth grader could easily discredit it. When I ask them where they got that info, 100% of the time, it's off of Facebook. Of course it is.

[dalton99a]

44. +1. They're still there, busy as ever

[Maven]

46. Yes, they were part of this conspiracy and they have yet to fully answer for their role in it.

Their stock tanking is a good start. There should be massive fines for their data privacy abuses and complicity in the spread of disinformation.

[FakeNoose]

5. This correction has been long overdue

Facebook stock has been over-valued for way too long.

[Achilleaze]

6. Lots of people have just stopped posting altogether

I mean, not just political stuff - which never really should have been part of FB - but they have stopped posting their friends and family news, which is what most everyone really wants anyway. Political spew is everywhere. No need to have poisoned FB with it. So now they reap the crapstorm they have sowed...

[kimbutgar]

34. I'm one of those who quit facebook in April

They lost my trust when I learned they allowed Cambridge analytical to data harvest me.

While I miss reading some of my friends posts it just wasn’t worth it anymore to be spyed on and trolled by Russia.

[dalton99a]

7. The demographic shift is ominous

https://www.theladders.com/career-advice/survey-51-of-teenagers-now-say-they-use-facebook-down-from-71-in-2014-2015
Survey: Number of teens using Facebook plummets since 2015
By Jane Burnett Jun 4, 2018

Your teenager might ditch Facebook soon, if they haven’t already — recent research from the Pew Research Center found that 51% of Americans age 13 to 17 report using the platform, down from 71% in 2014-2015, when it was the most popular social media platform surveyed.

[Dulcinea]

15. My teens have no interest in FB.

They do Snapchat & sometimes Instagram. "Facebook is full of old people."

[Snellius]

19. Mine too

Mine are millennials now but to them FB is where you post grad pics to grandma. Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter to some extent are much less cluttered with ads, more focused, cleaner, without so much useless information and don't have that phony "likes" and "friends" uncoolness. Ironic, because that was just the thing that Zuckerberg, in the beginning, was trying to avoid. But he got greedy and FB got bloated and all over the placee.

[dalton99a]

25. +1. That's exactly what young people are saying

which is a bad sign for a tech company. As an investment opportunity, the days of 30% growth are numbered

[Pacifist Patriot]

29. Marketing people have known this for several years.

The demographics on Facebook aged rapidly!

[bucolic_frolic]

8. Hardy har har, Zuck!

[turbinetree]

11. No wonder they want to go into a Communist country called China.............what

could possibly happen with that gate way product....................for / against the United States, just an easy platform for the dictatorship over there...................to penetrate here..................

"Analysts asking.............conference call with executives for more information on exactly how the company’s financial future had changed so dramatically."

Oh, I don't know wall street why don't you just ask the FSB or the GRU in Russia, and if you don't get an answer, try Malcolm Nance's new book, he explains it pretty well......................


I hate facebook...................



November 2018 cannot get here fast enough.................register and vote

[Dave Starsky]

43. I always read your posts.......

In William Shatner's voice.

[melm00se]

12. This is what happens

when you go from Wall Street darling to Wall Street goat.

you get pounded into the ground like a tent stake.

[dixiegrrrrl]

14. "Analysts who follow Facebook were blindsided,....."

Exactly what do these analysts...analyze????
the hordes of people leaving Facebook has been documented in frequent news, stories, and on Twitter and I assume other social sites, certainly here on DU, for months.

Sheesh...

[bucolic_frolic]

22. Analysts are a joke more than half the time

Recommending at the top, selling at the bottom. I think they use them for private clients, to get them out at a good price, to get them bargains at the best price in a long time. But they are usually behind the curve on news, and their analysis is tangential or obscure. I think only a small percentage of analysts make it a long term career. Some are just no good at it.

Some very lesser known brokerages outside major financial centers run tip-top analyst operations. Their business depends on a good reputation. Others depend less on that aspect of the business for their bread and butter. Investment banks for example.

[Pacifist Patriot]

30. No kidding. These analysts are worthless.

A half-way decent marketing department could have told them this was coming a couple of years ago. And that's without the regulatory problems.

[DBoon]

16. Is this the begining of the end of the stock market bubble?

I know there are issues specific to Facebook, but really Facebook is no less credible than any other high flying "new technology firm"?

Is the stock market finally starting to collapse? Are we in another 2008?

I wouldn't gloat about Facebook's demise - i would worry about what is next.

[bucolic_frolic]

23. Ding! Ding! Ding!

Market is struggling in my mind. Constant reversals day to day, everything at all time highs, P/E's at the upper end of historic ranges, interest rates rising. Imagine the fall if scandals bloom.

There are perma bears. Hussman Funds posts a nice commentary monthly. DecisionMoose.com has an enviable track record in their simple 11 ETF system. They are in a rare stance of 100% cash in that model.

There just is no growth left in this cycle with geopolitical doubt, rising rates, trade wars, commodity spikes. We are in for a hard time, in my opinion.

[DBoon]

36. and since the most ridiculous firms go first ...

.. the initial impression is that some failing in these firms is causing them to tank.

They are really the first casualties in a general economic contraction that will eventually swallow up more respectable companies with real products.

Facebook may be the first to fall. Others will follow.

[bucolic_frolic]

37. QE 1-2-3 created free money for corporations

Everything you can think of is profitable when the money is free. But it does create overcapacity, so there will be an historic shakeout.

You're right. I don't pay attention to the earnings release cycle, I just go day by day. There can be warning signs, canaries.

Damn! I owned SVU twice earlier this year. Taken over today.

[dixiegrrrrl]

39. We've been seeing the huge stock buy backs of many large companies

which increases the share price=happy shareholders=happy CEOs who get ginormous salary/bonuses.

So then the problem is how do they keep the price up, since it is not based on anything real like increased sales.

Artificial booms don't last long.

[workinclasszero]

17. GTH Facebook!

Dirty bastards are enabling fascism and rule of the 1% over us all!

[llmart]

18. I've always thought it was a dumb idea anyway.

"Let's put all of our personal life out there for everyone to see." "Let's rewrite our life to make it look like something everyone should be envious of."

Facebook makes people believe they have actual relationships with all their "friends" instead of actually having a relationship with people. It's also a big time waster.

[dalton99a]

20. The personal information made Zuckerberg immensely wealthy

and money is all he cares about

[llmart]

21. Well, now he's lost billions.

Let's hope it stays that way, the little prick.

[Raster]

31. I heartily concur...

...Zuck* the fuck didn't seem to give a shit that personal information from farcebook* was ILLEGALLY harvested and then ILLEGALLY passed to Cambridge Analytica* and Russia and then weaponized and used against our Democratic candidate.

I sincerely hope that when the Democrats have control we strongly consider invoking the RICO statutes and call this shit just what it is: A FUCKING CONSPIRACY to overthrow the United States government. And once a jury agreed, tRump*s assets, Zuckerberg*s assets, NRA*s assets AND Robert Mercer*s assets should be confiscated.

[Initech]

26. Womp womp!

[Hekate]

27. Fine. If Zuck can't be bothered to make it a place not actively destructive to democracy... nt

[donkeypoofed]

35. FB is finally paying the price for sending staffers to help Spanky campaign?

I hope so anyways.

[Astraea]

40. $180 per share for that POS website?

Talk about "irrational exuberance".

[TeamPooka]

41. Sell!

[Maven]

45. Delete Facebook. nt

[BigmanPigman]

47. WOMP WOMP

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Fuckerburg sold us to the Russians...now he gets the repercussions for being a greedy, amoral traitor. Mr. Everyman/everyone's bro is guilty of crimes to the American public. Lock him up too!

[dalton99a]

48. Facebook approves $10 million a year for Zuckerberg family security

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/26/facebook-approves-10-million-a-year-for-zuckerberg-family-security.html

Facebook approved a $10 million annual pre-tax allowance to amplify security for CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his family.

The allowance, announced in an SEC filing on Thursday, increases Facebook's security spend on Zuckerberg from $7.3 million last year.

"This allowance will be in addition to the continued funding of Mr. Zuckerberg's overall security program to cover the costs of security personnel for his protection; the procurement, installation, and maintenance of certain required security measures for his residences; and the usage of private aircraft for personal travel," Facebook wrote in a filing.

Facebook disclosed it would pay Zuckerberg the allowance, which he can use to pay for security personnel, equipment, services, residential improvements and more.

[sarcasmo]

49. Hurt Zuckerberg in the wallet, the Soulless cretin only cares about money.

[onenote]

52. Paper gains. Paper losses.

On March 27, 2018, FB stock was 152.22. By July 24, 2018, it had climbed to 214. Then it dropped to 176, which happens to be what it was at on May 2. So basically, Zuckerberg is exactly where he was around 11 weeks ago, which is around 17 percent ahead of where he was 16 weeks ago.

[ck4829]

50. Kick

[muriel_volestrangler]

51. Twitter shares plunge as user total falls

Shares in Twitter have fallen close to 20% after the messaging platform reported a fall in active users.

User numbers fell to 335 million in the second quarter of the year, down one million from the previous three months.

During the quarter Twitter deleted many fake accounts - a move that chief executive Jack Dorsey said was reflected in the results.

The slide to just under $35 a share came despite Twitter reporting record quarterly profits.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44978245

Still 18.5% down now: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/cmj34zmwx51t/twitter

Is a tech bubble bursting?