Four days after November's presidential election, Mark Zuckerberg wrote a lengthy note downplaying the role that fake news on Facebook had in the outcome. More difficult for him to dispute is the recent downward trajectory of his personal fortune; since November 8, Zuckerberg’s net worth has decreased by nearly $3.7 billion.
That figure is based on a 7% decline in Facebook's share price between Election Day and the end of normal trading at 4:00 P.M. EST on Friday. Despite the fall, Zuckerberg is still the planet’s fifth-richest person, according to FORBES’ real-time rankings of the world’s billionaires, worth an estimated $49 billion.
The recent drop in Facebook’s stock, of course, isn’t necessarily tied to the fake news controversy, or even the impending presidential transition. Shares have been trending down since hitting an all-time high in mid-October, and other tech giants, like Google and Amazon, have lately dipped as well.
But the company is clearly aware of the danger presented by continuing public blowback. Zuckerberg followed his initial memo with an acknowledgement of the need to root out misinformation, and a promise to “[disrupt] fake news economics” by preventing dubious media publishers from using its ad-placing technology.
Zuckerberg’s drop in wealth stands in stark contrast to many other American billionaires who have benefited from positive market returns since Donald Trump’s electoral triumph. In the weeks following his victory, America’s 14 richest individuals added a combined $9.4 billion to their net worths.
The biggest post-election winner has been Warren Buffett. Shares of the Berkshire Hathaway investment giant he leads are up 8%, which has boosted his fortune by more than $5 billion—bringing his total net worth increase for the month of November to $7 billion. Berkshire Hathaway has performed well in part due to a surge in the stock price of Wells Fargo, after a fraudulent accounts scandal dogged the company earlier this fall. Buffett is now the world’s third-wealthiest person, behind only Bill Gates and Amancio Ortega, the Spanish retailing billionaire worth $72 billion.
