Mark Zuckerberg said the latest
change to Facebook would make users' time on the website more
"valuable". But for the co-founder of the social media giant, it is
proving very expensive.
The 33-year-old saw his fortune
fall $3.3 billion (£2.4 billion) on Friday after he posted plans to shift
users’ news feeds towards content from family and friends at the expense of
material from media outlets and businesses.
Shares of California-based
Facebook tumbled 4.5 percent on Friday in New York, cutting Mr Zuckerberg’s fortune
to $74 billion on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.The drop wiped out much of
the $4.5 billion Mr Zuckerberg had added this year and saw him lose his place
as the world’s fourth-richest person to Spanish retail billionaire Amancio
Ortega.
"There is too much
uncertainty relating to the economic impact of Facebook's pending news feed
changes for us to be comfortable retaining a Buy rating on the stock,"
wrote Stifel analyst Scott Devitt in a research note, cutting his
recommendation to "hold" from "buy."
The change announced by Mr
Zuckerberg follows criticism that Facebook's algorithms may have prioritised
misleading news and misinformation in people's feeds, influencing the 2016
American presidential election as well as political discourse in other
countries.
Facebook said its new ranking
system would hurt non-advertising content from publishers and brands, like news
stories and viral video posts, but not change the ranking of advertising that
has been paid for.
That will leave businesses that
want publicity on Facebook no choice but to spend more on advertising, and as a
result prices will climb, predicted Eric Schiffer, chairman of Reputation
Management Consultants, which advises corporate brands on social media.
"They're definitely going to
be required to buy an ad," Mr Schiffer said.
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