Facebook Stocks Plummet to an Unprecedented Degree

Facebook experienced the largest one-day wipeout in U.S. stock market history yesterday.

The company’s stocks dropped to $176.26, an overall 19 percent decrease in market value. The estimated losses totaled at over $120 billion which is nearly four times the entire market capital of Twitter.

During a routine call with analysts, Facebook’s chief financial officer, David Wehner, startled brokerages by claiming the company faced a multi-year financial squeeze in the near future. The announcement tied in with growing concerns over its business model following controversy over their privacy policy and involvement in global news dissemination. As a result, at least 16 brokerages slashed their Facebook stock prices.

The stock initially dropped by 9 percent on Wednesday night due to a slow decrease in revenue recently. Compared to last year, Facebook’s margins dropped three percent in its second quarter. The decrease is attributed to the increased spending on cyber-security and other initiatives to convince users their privacy was protected.

Facebook revealed that other applications, such as Instagram, would not gather enough revenue to make up for the lost capital.

Their median target price currently sits at $219.30. Out of 47 analysts covering Facebook, 43 still mark Facebook’s stock as “buy”, while two say “hold” and two others say “sell”.