Meta Platforms set the record for the largest one-day loss in stock-market value by a company in February 2022.
On February 3, 2022, Meta Platforms shares plunged after the company reported disappointing user growth and warned about competitive pressure. The decline erased about $251 billion in market value in a single trading session, based on the change in its share price and outstanding shares.
Meta Platforms was formerly known as Facebook. It owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger, while also investing heavily in virtual-reality and augmented-reality products through its Reality Labs division.
The record concerns market capitalization, not cash that disappeared from the company’s bank accounts. A falling share price reduces the market’s valuation of the company, but it does not mean that an equivalent amount of money was withdrawn from Meta’s operations.