From Facebook to Tesla, remember the biggest stock tumbles

A single day was enough for Meta, owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, to lose US$ 251.3 billion (R$ 1.3 trillion) in market value. After the release of the 2021 results, the company’s shares sank 26% on the stock exchange this Thursday (3), implying the biggest fall in the history of the stock market.

The drastic drop also reflects how investors predict Meta’s future, given the user flight brought on by TikTok competition and recent privacy scandals.

But this isn’t the first time that Mark Zuckerberg’s company tops the list of biggest drops. In July 2018, also due to a disastrous quarterly report, Facebook lost US$ 119 billion (R$ 446.8 billion, in values ​​at the time), inaugurating a new record.

Since then, other historic falls have been recorded. According to a Bloomberg survey, the five biggest drops in market value took place in the last two years. Remember the episodes.

Apple ($180 billion)

Before Meta topped the list, the biggest single-day decapitalization had been by Apple. On September 3, 2020, the company’s shares closed down 8%, leading to a loss of US$ 179.92 billion (R$ 958.5 billion, in current values).

That week, Nasdaq, the American stock exchange that concentrates technology companies, had its worst streak since March 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic toppled global markets.

The massive sale of technology stocks hit Apple, which, a month earlier, had become the world’s most valuable publicly traded company.

Microsoft ($178 billion)

On March 16, 2020, just days after the WHO (World Health Organization) declared the coronavirus pandemic, Microsoft saw its market value plummet by US$178 billion (R$948.3 billion in current values).

Faced with the threats of Covid-19 on the economy, the stock market panicked, leading to widespread losses. In Brazil, for example, the circuit breaker, a mechanism that interrupts trading on the stock exchange, was triggered three times in the same week.

Wall Street was not immune to market reactions and Microsoft was impacted. At that time, the Seattle area, where the company is located, was among the areas hardest hit by Covid outbreaks in the US.

Tesla ($140 billion)

On November 6, 2021, Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk asked his Twitter followers if he should sell 10% of his shares. The majority voted yes. Three days later, the electric car maker’s shares fell 12%, reducing the company’s market value by $140 billion.

Musk’s tweets made investors question Tesla’s long-term viability, causing fluctuations in the company’s performance on the stock market.

Amazon ($130 billion)

Presenting positive results is not always enough. If they fall short of investors’ expectations, the demonstration could lead to the biggest drop in market value in history — especially if the company is valued at trillions of dollars.

That’s what happened to Amazon on July 30, 2021. After reporting results that were less than expected by Wall Street, the company’s shares fell 7%, culminating in a loss of US$ 130 billion (R$ 692.6 billion).

While revenues for that quarter were up 27% year-over-year, they were below market forecasts. The sharp decline was also fueled by the disclosure of a fine levied by European regulators, who accused Amazon of violating regional privacy laws.

Facebook ($119 billion)

Lower-than-expected results and decline in user growth. The reasons that led Meta to register a historic fall this Thursday (3) had already shaken Mark Zuckerberg’s heritage in 2018.

On July 26 of that year, Facebook lost US$ 120 billion (R$ 446.8 billion, in values ​​at the time). The drop was investors’ response to a lower-than-expected income on the balance sheet. In addition, the pace of growth in the user base was also slowing.

But the disastrous fall mainly reflected the company’s warning that the new reality could be more modest. For the following year, the company had forecast spending growth faster than revenue, due to investments in security, innovation, video content and virtual reality.

Collaborated with Lucas Bombana