Facebook Stock Falls 24 Percent in After-Hours Trading on Forecast for Slowing Growth, Rising Expenses

Munsif Vengattil, reporting for Reuters:

Facebook Inc’s stock fell as much as 24 percent after hours on Wednesday over concerns about the impact of privacy issues on the social media company’s business, with executives warning that revenue growth would slow and expenses would rise.

The plummeting stock price wiped out about $150 billion in market capitalization in under two hours.

These after-hour trading plummets usually correct themselves to a large degree before regular trading hours, and, as I type this, Facebook is only down 20 percent. But: couldn’t happen to a nicer company.

Update: Two hours into regular trading today and Facebook shares remain down 19 percent from close yesterday. Investors genuinely seem to fear Facebook’s future in a world where people’s eyes are open to online privacy concerns.

★ Wednesday, 25 July 2018