Meta, Facebook's parent company, has been at the receiving end of negative press headlines since the beginning of 2022. It all started with last week's Q4 earnings report which presented lower than expected numbers, making the company's stock drop in value by an unprecedented 26%.
Apple's new privacy changes have also affected Facebook's stock value, currently trading at a 35% lower price compared to the start of the year.
Meta is also facing legal disputes in Europe, as regulators are planning to implement new laws that will specify how EU citizens' data can be processed, stored and transferred to the US.
Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp may very well be restricted for European users, in the event of such a restrictive legislation will be implemented.
The bad press trend continues for Meta, as Tuesday saw the company's market cap fall below $600 billion, for the first time since May 2020.
Meta's total market cap is now at $599.32 billion, which makes it drop right below Nvidia ($627 billion market cap).
Due to the latest disappointing earnings report and the litigations Meta is facing in Europe, the company is no longer ranked as one of the five most valuable tech companies, alongside Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet. It's currently behind Tesla, Berkshire Hathaway, and Nvidia.
Even though it is currently facing negative headlines, the silver lining for Meta could be that dropping below the $600 billion market cap may help the company dodge the new antitrust scrutiny.
At the time of publishing, Meta's stock price was trading 2.10% lower.
Sources: cnbc.com