SearchNewsletters
Logo
HomeLatestBusiness NewsMoney & MarketsTech & InnovationA.I.LifestyleLeadership✉️ Emails🎧 Podcasts
Logo
FacebookXInstagramYoutubeRSS Feed
SitemapAboutAccessibilityPrivacyTerms of ServiceAdvertising
© 2026 Quartz Media Network. All Rights Reserved.
Business News

Charts show how Facebook destroyed $40 billion in value during its first year as a public company

Hard to believe but it’s true. Facebook shares priced exactly one year ago today at $38 a share, giving the social media behemoth a market value of round $104 billion. (“Pricing” is when the company gets the money and the investment bank gets the shares, which it then turns around and sells to stock-market investors.) Today, with shares fluttering around $26.40, the enterprise is valued at around $64 billion. That means that in Facebook’s first year, some $40 billion in market value was vaporized, a remarkable accomplishment of sorts. Here’s how Zuckerberg & Co. managed it.

ByMatt Phillips and David Yanofsky
Share to XShare to FacebookShare to RedditShare to EmailShare to Link
Add Quartz on Google
Share to XShare to FacebookShare to RedditShare to EmailShare to Link

Hard to believe but it’s true. Facebook $META shares priced exactly one year ago today at $38 a share, giving the social media behemoth a market value of round $104 billion. (“Pricing” is when the company gets the money and the investment bank gets the shares, which it then turns around and sells to stock-market investors.) Today, with shares fluttering around $26.40, the enterprise is valued at around $64 billion. That means that in Facebook’s first year, some $40 billion in market value was vaporized, a remarkable accomplishment of sorts. Here’s how Zuckerberg & Co. managed it.

📬 Sign up for the Daily Brief

Our free, fast and fun briefing on the global economy, delivered every weekday morning.