Facebook stock is tanking-Largest loss of value in Wall St. history

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

I just have a hint of a smile on my face with this news...even though we'll never get rid of this cankar sore on our societal discourse.

Facebook is facing the biggest single-day loss in stock market history. Here are all the reasons why.

Facebook’s shareholders finally awoke Wednesday to the mounting problems that have beset the social network for more than two years — wiping $120 billion off the company’s value in the space of a couple of hours.

The company has been hit by numerous controversies in recent years, but throughout that time, two things have remained constant — its ability to make piles of money from advertising and add large chunks of the world’s population to its user base.

That changed Wednesday when Facebook reported lower-than-expected revenue, slower user growth and most worryingly for investors, a warning that profits would continue to decelerate throughout 2018.

Facebook’s stock took a hit in after-hours trading, but seemed to stabilize. Then the company’s chief financial officer David Wehner told an earnings call that he expects revenue deceleration “in the high single digits for the next couple of quarters.”

https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/43pamg/facebook-stock-price-wall-street-shares

[dalton99a]

1. Ah, Facebook - where old folks keep their photos and share "Obama is a Muslim" stories

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

5. You're selling Facebook short. It's so much more than that!

Uranium One, pizzagate, racism, fake news stories. This might be a national tragedy.

[dalton99a]

10. And Sandy Hook - which Zuckerberg refused to correct

[crazycatlady]

71. are Candy Crush requests still a thing?

[Hekate]

77. Cambridge Analytica!

[Adrahil]

12. I stay in touch with a lot of old friends and interest groups....

It's relatively easy to avoid right wing nuts.

[DownriverDem]

22. Exactly

For the most part I have mostly left leaners as my friends on FB.

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

46. That's kind of the problem

You (and I don't mean YOU specifically) see what it means personally. You see some value and that's all that matters. As a whole, the damage that's being done is alarming. Data collection, election manipulation, the platform for hate speech and fake news can't be justified because Facebook makes it easy to share pictures with somebody you went to high school with. Just because your little corner of Facebook is O.K. doesn't make it worth putting up with the negative impacts.

[el_bryanto]

52. But isn't any form of communication a potential forum for hate speech? nt

[Caliman73]

75. Yep. You are describing the internet.

I challenge someone with way more skill than I, to search for how many sites contain right wing propaganda and hate speech as opposed to actual progressive leaning news.

I look up topics on Google, or any search engine and right wing sites pop up, all containing the same bullshit that I have to sort through to get to a somewhat reputable and less biased source.

The whole internet is a great tool, but home to the people who shout the loudest.


That said, what Facebook did in monetizing our preferences and information was not a good thing and perhaps they are finally suffering for it. Something new will take its place and the beat will go on.

[Adrahil]

53. Throw out the baby with the bath water?

Surely there is a way to preserve what is good while limiting what is bad.

I'm serious. It's an important social tool for me, as I imagine it is for many people with limited mobility, or other conditions which can limit social contact.

[Runningdawg]

58. The same could be said about cell phones

Used to: call the cops on black people, spread kiddie porn, harrass people with unwanted calls and texts..

[LisaM]

60. Amazon collects and manipulates data, so does Twitter.

So do all social media platforms. So does Uber, probably. I do like Facebook for things like vacation pictures and finding people I hadn't connected with in 20+ years, much easier than on Instagram or Twitter. I don't depend on it for news, and I rarely, if ever, forward memes, I double check all news sources anyway, and I hide posts I don't like so I don't get caught up arguing with the other side.

I don't like the concept of being constantly tracked. But it happens on your cell phone, at the grocery store, anywhere you use a debit or credit card instead of cash, any time you buy online....it's not just one company doing this.

[ADX]

64. THIS x INFINITY...

...unfortunately, too many people are straight-up ADDICTED to Bookface and no matter what you or anyone else tries to tell them about it's evils, they'll refuse to listen because how else would they be able to post pictures of the sandwich they had for lunch for all the world to see?

For fucks sake...

[wasupaloopa]

82. So we should kill it off because you don't like it?

The other things can be dealt with.

This old folk communicates with his old folk friends with it.

Also it is very useful to post anti trump things I copy off of DU.

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

85. Because I don't like it?

Hardly. Because it's become an anti-democratic presence in our society. Because it's a forum for hate speech. Because it's a platform for spreading fake news. Because it's become an avenue for personal data collection that has been used for improper purposes. Those are reasons for it to go away. Because it gives voice and validation to the worst of our political discourse. Society would survive very nicely without Facebook But hey, as long as it's ok for you we should ignore all that other stuff. After all you can just ignore the bad stuff and pretend it doesn't have any impact on the world.

[wasupaloopa]

86. That other stuff as already happened. You can't

put spilt milk back in the bottle but you can still use the bottle for other things.

[Chemisse]

63. It really is. I just block or defriend anyone who posts one of those memes.

There is a lot about Facebook and its privacy policies that bothers me, but keeping in touch with my kids, grandkids, friends, coworkers, etc. is so important to me.

[MoonRiver]

14. My fb page includes about 80% animal rights issues, and 20% family posts/photos.

That said, I have many concerns about fb and wouldn't cry if it went belly up.

[Ezior]

21. Be careful in case some of the animal rights advocates suddenly want everyone to vote GOP...

.. before the elections. Because Trump clearly knows more about animal rights than anybody else, and voting for the GOP will tremendously help animal rights like the world has never seen before.

Those might be fake animal rights advocates made in Russia.

[MoonRiver]

49. Lol, those suckers would not be me!

I know way too much.

[DownriverDem]

20. Not true

I have a lot of left leaning friends on FB and we post pro Dem/progressive stuff all the time. I hope you don't hate what you describe as old folks.

[NatBurner]

33. my left-leaning activist fb friends get banned frequently

for very innocuous and truthful posts about trump and co-

meanwhile, zuck put out a statement saying that holocaust deniers deserve to have "a voice" on his platform

how he managed to program bias into an algorithm is some evil genius shit

[OMGWTF]

32. Old Folks who like to look at pictures of their grandchildren too!

[stopbush]

42. This old folk - 63 years old - still uses FB every day.

Mostly moderating a classical music group I started a couple of years ago.

My kids are pretty much done with FB from what I can tell.

My corner of FB has become quite civil and RW free. Perhaps that’s because all the young folk have moved on to spout their views elsewhere?

What’s wrong with sticking with something that works? I’m still using the iPhone 6+ I bought back in 2014, as well as an iPad Mini II. I don’t feel any urge to move on to something newer, especially when doing so would cost me $ just for bragging rights.

[Runningdawg]

59. Exactly

Being recently retired, living outside the city and hubby taking the car for work everyday - the social groups 8 am a part of on FB fill a need and do harm to no one.

[DeminPennswoods]

2. Facebook has probably peaked

imho. Something new and better will come along sooner rather than later, maybe even a return to direct conversation!

[hlthe2b]

3. Facebook you say? What? Oh, was that something like that old MySpace thingie?:

[woodsprite]

6. My kids (? 18 and 25) don' really use FB at all anymore

other than for keeping up with family and teachers. They use Instagram a bit, but they use SnapChat more than anything.

I've enjoyed FB. It gives me a vent for political stuff (and I've warned anybody who friends me), keep in touch with some family (except for the SIL who posts BSDM pics all the time def. NSFW). My friends and I have also used it to play Scrabble and chat while we're playing the online game. Kinda cool.

[bluedigger]

4. Still works just fine for this old fogie.

But I'm looking forward to finding a new scapegoat for all our woes.

[Pacifist Patriot]

7. I deleted my account yesterday.

I figure if I made it well over 40 years just fine before I joined, I'll do just fine without it.

[RestoreAmerica2020]

11. How did you delete? Im still getting messages, i uninstalled app was that not enough?

.I never once used since created yet immediately. received questionable messages and have never responded..now I just want it deleted. Any suggestions?

[Pacifist Patriot]

27. I used the directions in this Wired.com article.

https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-delete-your-facebook-instagram-twitter-snapchat/

My account won't be permanently deleted until I don't log in for 13 more days, but I've no intention of logging back in. Now that's just for the computer version, not my phone.

I loathe the way Facebook is pre-installed on Android phones. There seems to be no way for me to uninstall the Facebook app, though I was able to uninstall Messenger.

I disabled the Facebook app. Then to stop the notifications, I went to Settings > Apps > Facebook > Notifications > and then toggled to Blocked. I also made sure all App Permissions were toggled off and turned off "Apps that can appear on top" and "Apps that can change system settings"

Wish I could just scrub the app from my phone entirely!

[RestoreAmerica2020]

45. Thanks!

[Blue_true]

69. Try doing a Websearch where you use the key string "uninstall Facebook from iPhone".

I used iPhone because that is what I use, you can substitute your phone type.

Update:

I used the string "how to delete Facebook from iPhone"

Lots of instructions came up for every type of device and even deletion from the Web.

I don't use Facebook or respond to anything from them. My family is pretty sophisticated (except for my oldest brother, who is somewhat of a Luddite, but progressive), they won't be decoyed by bullshit originating through Facebook.

[Blue_true]

68. Good for you.

Anyone that calls themselves progressives and are still on Facebook are hypocrites. I seem some pinning about liberal AM radio, here is a chance to make a difference, a true progressive alternative to Facebook. Leave Facebook for righties, they have basically taken it over.

[Anon-C]

8. I wish it would go out of business.

[MariaCSR]

9. I'm sorry (not sorry) but I love Facebook.

I've connected with long lost family and friends, and I've found other people who share my interests, that wouldn't have been possible without it.

[Adrahil]

13. same here. NT

[nolabear]

15. I like it too. It's flawed and stupid etc. but

I keep track of so many people I wouldn’t otherwise. And I laugh a lot. I’m a social sort and while I do think it has shortened my attention span and let me procrastinate too much it’s had a lot of value.

[KatyMan]

16. it's easy to choose what you want on your feed

Mine is guitars, memes, some family and friends and not too much political stuff. Also George Takei and God (Facebook God is awesome).

[CaptainTruth]

17. I like it too, for staying in touch with family & friends.

Family members on FB range from those in their 20s to those in their 90s.

I have friends & former business associates scattered across the US & throughout Europe & the Far East.

It's a great way to stay in touch with all of them. The only way I could replace/replicate it would be if they all moved to the same platform, which I don't see happening.

[greymattermom]

23. My son, daughter, and daughter in law use it (mid 30s to 40s), but much less than a few years ago.

My cousin (60s) tells me to share if you love Jesus.
My youngest daughter (early 30s) doesn't use facebook, but she has an instagram account that only 1 and maybe one other person know about. She posts pics of her day, camping trips, etc, just so that I know she's ok without having to bother her.

[Laxman]

24. The Fact That Facebook Has Some Redeeming Value.....

does not offset the overall damage it has caused. It was the forum of choice for influencing the electorate. It was the source for gathering personal data on millions of voters for an improper effort to promote division among Americans and promote the election of Donald Trump. It continues to be a vehicle for the dissemination of hateful and bigoted opinions. It has given a platform for the worst among us to voice their hatred and validation to those views through "likes" and "shares". You do your own accounting on whether or not the value outweighs the damage. In my book the costs do not justify the benefits.

[Pacifist Patriot]

29. The situations in India and Myanmar are horrific as well and the article about the...

undercover journalist in Ireland sent me over the edge.

[kcr]

57. That article by the undercover journalist was horrifying

If I hadn't already left FB that would have done it for me.

[workinclasszero]

18. Facebook is the machine that the Putin, Cambridge Analytica and Zuckerberg

used to get Shit45 into the white house.

I hope it crashes and burns and DIES!

[sprinkleeninow]

83. I personally have no care if it evaporates. No need to cancel my account

bc I never joined in the 1st place. Or twitter or instagram or any others. Got enuff occupying my life without them. Just sayin'....

💙🇺🇸🌊

[Ponietz]

19. A decent person who uses FB might as well watch Faux Spews TV

And filter out the ‘untrue’ stories. Its defenders miss the point.

[LanternWaste]

28. You'll of course support your premise with objective and relevant evidence, yes?

"Its defenders miss the point."

Then enlighten us with objective facts to support your premise. Allow for us the precise and relevant difference between one social networking site and another, and provide us with the objective measure you use to find this relevant difference.

Or simply continue making unsupported allegations... they're very cool and trendy if referred to as 'alternative facts...'

[Ponietz]

72. Its defenders get the point?

Have a nice day.

[Ponietz]

90. To sum up

[link:http://

Link to tweet

?s=21|

[berni_mccoy]

25. I and many others have left FB. It can never be trusted with the data it has amassed

And should not be trusted moving forward. I will give it no more of my personal info.

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

36. Right there w you.

I refuse to sell "me" for some ease of communication meme. They helped bring us dt. Nuff said about that.
I remember the land lines and trying to imagine a persons face from the picture on the refrigerator. And it didn't require a computer...or electricity to access it. When the lights go out, folks will be so disappointed in the electrics we've come to DEPEND on. Go Old School, reduce your stress.
dt and putin are coming for the grid. Create a problem, then, have folks begging them to remedy it. When it never had to happen to begin with.

[NRaleighLiberal]

26. I use FB, Twitter, and Instagram for my "business" (writing, speaking, etc) - BUT

I would be absolutely thrilled if THEY ALL WENT AWAY. Imagine - people could talk to each other again, telephone, meet face to face.

The rise and misuse and overuse and manipulation of social networking, in general, has NOT been a plus for our society.

[Pacifist Patriot]

30. I seem to recall functioning quite well pre-1997.

[NRaleighLiberal]

31. indeed

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

38. Me as well.

[LeftInTX]

37. I follow you on FB

[NRaleighLiberal]

47. .

Hope I don't bore you to death with tomatoformation! I do enjoy sharing my successes AND failures! Appreciate your support!

[LeftInTX]

89. I'm a master gardener

Trump was supposed to be impeached a year ago and I was supposed to spend the rest of my life growing heirloom tomatoes. So far neither has happened. I'm too busy being an activist.

[Afromania]

34. The question you have to always ask with any free service is

"just how do they make their money if they have no tangible product?" Sure you can say ad's but those can be blocked and tend to be based on actual clickthroughs; something, but certainly not enough to sustain a company as large as Facebook.Reason why Zuckerberg doesn't crack down on hate speech is pays too well.

[dalton99a]

44. +1. If something is free, 'you' are the product.

[A HERETIC I AM]

35. Of course, if you had bought it 6 years ago when it was trading around the $20 mark.....

You still would be up a shitload!

These kinds of threads always amuse me. When they did their IPO back in 2012 there were a few threads about it, hoping it would tank. The share price fell in the first month or so from the IPO price of around $30/share to a low of around $18 and there were a couple "I told you so" type threads.

Then what happened? It slowly climbed all the way up to $217 a share and no one on this website, NOT ONE SINGLE PERSON put up a thread saying anything about how well the stock was doing.

If it bleeds, it leads, I suppose. And a 20% selloff of a particular company is certainly a bleed.

Jesus Hornblower Christ as a market maker on the CBOE, if you don't like the firm, don't do business with them, simple as that.

And no, I don't own any shares, as I didn't have any cash to spare back then when it was a bargain. I sure as hell wish I had bought 100 shares in August of 2012 though.

[fescuerescue]

48. exactly

I bought some shares right around that time. Not quite $20, but rounded down..yea.

I've let it sit. I didn't even realize that it had touched $212. I check into once every couple months.

Given all the bruha. I just checked and I see it's 178. Or about the same spot as the last time I checked sometime in March or so.

Personally I hate facebook. I hate it for many many reasons. But I like it as an investment.

[A HERETIC I AM]

54. ABSOLUTELY GOD DAMNED RIGHT.

As a former broker, I completely understand the individual sentiment of "socially responsible investing"

I get it. Some people don't want anything to do with Lockheed or General Dynamics or Sturm & Ruger or Facebook, etc. I get it.

But money is green, and unless you are willing to drill down into every single mutual fund in your 401(k), there is likely to be an investment you are part of that you don't agree with.


I was a broker from late 2006 through mid 2009. The entirety of the crisis. A good example of a missed opportunity is Ford. Ford Motor Company absolutely traded into the toilet, for no other reason than the market feared the entire US auto industry would collapse. They had no exposure to the housing market like GM did though GMAC. They had a solid, well selling product line and they were for the most part, profitable, just as had been the historical case with the US Automobile market (good years followed by lean years).

Ford traded at an ultimate low of $1.01 a share! A FUCKING BUCK! Damn...if only I had ten grand to have bought it back then.

The point it, one days trading does not a market make.


Facebook currently has what they call "headwinds". It will recover. Or it won't. But if it won't, then that means there is a movement AWAY from such platforms that no one is seeing.


We shall see. I would certainly look at this as a buying opportunity, but I am not a professional trader, and my opinion on this matter is worth exactly diddly.

[Kind of Blue]

39. Finally! +1000

I remember Fuckerberg saying something earlier this year like they're not going to change much because it hasn't hit their bottom-line.

Hopefully those single digits will become double digits. There are ways of running a business without fucking people over. The gotdamn traitor using our love for family and friends against us.

[LeftInTX]

40. I'm 62 and I love it.

We use for organizing. Campaigns use it. I've got 5 pending events with Beto O'Rourke within the next few weeks. I don't think I would be able to connect with campaigns the way I do without it! Phonebanking events, meet and greets etc. Keeps me busy in real life.

Well off to go phonebank for a special election!! Connected to the candidate via FB.

I have no complaints.

[vi5]

41. Facebook's days are definitely numbered.....

I'm in my mid 40's and I was an early adopter. And I even mostly defended it for a while from people who thought it was a major shitfest. I was mostly able to just weed out anyone who posted bullshit or whatever else, and kept it to a calm group that I didn't mind keeping in touch with.

But the Zuckerberg testimony and the extent of the data theft and all of that made me realize that by using it I was still allowing it to profit off of right wing bullshit and get away with everything it gets away with because it still had my clicks and my eyes. I deleted it however long ago that testimony was and never looked back.

The fact is that young people don't use it much at all and if they do it's minimal and obligatory (my daughter only has one so her grandmother can see pictures she posts). The old people who make up what I'm assuming is the largest demographic are going to die off.

Of course we've been saying that about the GOP since I was a teenager so I could be very wrong about it.

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

43. That's it in a nutshell.

It seemed ok at first, it still has some value for connecting with people, but in the end you need to balance that minimal utility with the damage its caused and continues to cause. How many hateful racist memes and fake news stories does it take to wipe out whatever positives it provides? Not many.

[Pacifist Patriot]

70. Both of you summed up my feelings.

[bucolic_frolic]

50. FANG are this generation's Nifty Fifty

There is a day of reckoning, when earnings stall, growth rates peak, and euphoria has priced in the moon.

[edhopper]

51. Facebook would have been better

as a true social network, nonprofit like Wikipedia.
Instead of a way to grab data for advertising.

Perhaps someone could build such a platform that people could migrate to?

[kcr]

55. Great news

They deserve it. Hope this trend continues.

[JDC]

56. Welp, I am told money is speech. I guess folks are saying F Off Zuck.

[onecaliberal]

61. Couldn't happen to a better guy.

[Pendrench]

62. If for nothing else, I will always be thankful that my wife and I were able to find the

birthfamilies for both of our adopted children.

And, although understand and appreciate the negative aspects of Facebook (as well as all social media), I am not sure if there was/is another platform that would have allowed us to do this.

For example, finding our son's birth-mother was fairly easy (he was born in the states, and we had some basic information about her), but our daughter was born in Latvia, so we had very little personal information to begin with. So (using what we had) we were able to post in a variety of groups, and luckily a young lady from Riga (19 years old) happened to see one of these posts, and then took it upon herself to find our daughter's birth-mother (who did not have a phone, let alone a computer). Facebook also allowed us to find a birth-sister (living in Paris) and a birth-brother living in England.

So while it may be selfish, at least in instances like mine, Facebook served as a very positive tool.

I realize that we probably do not agree on this topic, but I appreciate the opportunity to share my viewpoint.

Wishing you well and peace.

Tim

[cbdo2007]

65. Yep, it's a great time to buy Facebook stock.

It will be over $300 by this time next year.

[Johonny]

73. It certainly seems that way

Compared to the PE of the other FANGS facebook is pretty modest. After this drop it's forward PE is actually quite tame. It seems like people were going to Netflex this stock after earning no matter what they delivered. Facebook seem willing to take a short term profit hit in 3rd and 4th quarter to beef up its failing product for better security, better experience. That's the type of long term thinking most companies don't have these days.

Bottom line is; it's likely to see 218 again before it sees 0, that way too many people are talking about. It's not a .com bust. It's a multibillion dollar company with 42 billion capital waiting to invest. While it talked down the 4th quarter, jeepers the 2018 election cycle should see a lot of ad revenue because frankly political ads on facebook make, made a difference. It's hard to believe both political parties won't learn from 2016 and pour money into facebook, and instagram...

[IronLionZion]

66. Their stock has been soaring for years

this is just a small correction for them even though it's 20%, many investors will buy at the lower price.

[Johonny]

74. It was up 45% in 4 months

It didn't even lose all it's gains yet from the winter panic. Yet...

[Blue_true]

67. The CEO let his company actively support Trump in 2016,

and privately congratulated him after he won. Anyone who calls themselves a progressive and still has a Facebook account is a hypocrite.

[Anon-C]

76. Full Stop.

[Blue_true]

87. Don't ever mention the right taking over AM radio again.

A progressive alternative to Facebook, where rightwing bullshit is immediately squashed would be better than turning one's fucking head while a platform helps take away democracy. But maybe calling someone a sanctimonious chucklehead is more important.

I repeat myself. Anyone still on Facebook and call themselves progressives are fucking hypocrites.

[Calista241]

78. Facebook has its place.

I have a few private groups of old friends that I wouldn't be able to share stuff with any other way.

If you get your news; political or otherwise, from social media, you're just asking to be misled.

[Hekate]

80. FB allowed our information to be weaponized against our democracy. I won't forget that in a hurry.

Enjoy your photos and reconnection with old friends -- but never forget what lies beneath.

[MrsCoffee]

84. Well deserved.

I would love to see it crash and burn.