Mark
Zuckerberg

Zuckerberg remains one of the titans of the tech world, but his long struggle with unflattering coverage has been amplified by recent economic troubles. In February, Meta stock closed down 26%, reducing its market cap by $230 billion, after it forecast lower-than-expected revenue growth for the next quarter, caused in part by a change in privacy settings to Apple’s new iOS system that cost Meta billions in advertising dollars. When that forecast became reality in July with its first-ever year-over-year drop in revenue, Zuckerberg announced Meta would be trying to do more with fewer resources, culminating in November layoffs that reduced Meta’s workforce by 13%, or ­11,000 people, after Meta saw a 50% decline in profit the following quarter. Prior to this, the VR and metaverse­-focused ­Reality Labs division in February was revealed to have posted a $10 billion loss for 2021.