Mark Zuckerberg lost $15BILLION during a year of controversies for Facebook - more than any other billionaire on the world's 500 richest people list

  • Mark Zuckerberg's fortune has dropped from $75 billion to $57 billion this year
  • Scandals of election hacking, data breaches and dysfunctional management plagued Facebook this year
  •  Zuckerberg's COO Sheryl Sandberg faced scrutiny for much of the issues surrounding Russian hacking and data misuse late this year
  • Despite the massive losses, Zuckerberg remains at sixth place on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index

The founder of Facebook has lost almost a quarter of his net worth after a very bad year for the social media giant. 

Mark Zuckerberg, the 34-year-old multi-billionaire, is set to be have $15 billion less as the constant bad news surrounding his social media giant took its toll on his fortune, according to Money Magazine.

COO Sheryl Sandberg downplaying Russian election interference, user data breaches and fleeing executive talent punished the brand, as well as the man, whose fortune is mostly tied up in ownership of the Facebook platform.

Money Magazine drew up a timeline of debacles and stumbles over the course of the year that plunged the billionaire multiple notches down on the list of the wealthiest people on the planet.

Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and CEO of Facebook, testifying before Congress about the Cambridge Analytica use of user data in the 2016 election

Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and CEO of Facebook, testifying before Congress about the Cambridge Analytica use of user data in the 2016 election

Beginning in March, Christopher Wylie, the co-founder of the data analytics firm, Cambridge Analytica, revealed that misappropriated 50 million of Facebook users' data (revised up to 87 million later) and then used that information to target voters in the 2016 election on behalf of the Trump campaign.

The Facebook founder temporarily lost  $13 billion on the news which forced him to concede that his company may have made a mistake in not proactively doing something about the breach.

'When we heard back from Cambridge Analytica that they had told us that they weren’t using the data and deleted it, we considered it a closed case,' Zuckerberg told Congress when placed on the hotseat. 'In retrospect, that was clearly a mistake.' 

Mark Zuckerberg's fortune dropped from $75 billion at the start of the year to $57 billion by its end

Mark Zuckerberg's fortune dropped from $75 billion at the start of the year to $57 billion by its end

Facebook went from a high this year of $217.50 per share down to a trading price of $144.06 amid the scandals and problems at the social media giant

Facebook went from a high this year of $217.50 per share down to a trading price of $144.06 amid the scandals and problems at the social media giant

Due to lackluster sales and poorer prospects for growth, investors soured on the platform. Zuckerberg also admitted that spending on security in light of the previous scandal would affect profits. 

Then came the worst single-day loss in share value in the history of U.S. stocks. Facebook provided its Q2 earnings after trading hours on July 25 while at an all-time high price of $217.50. 

On July 26, the shares opened 20% lower. Zuckerberg lost $15.9 billion by the end of the day, and another $2.2 billion in following days.

With an accelerating fall underway, Money points to an exodus of executive talent from acquired businesses WhatsApp and Instagram painting an unhealthy picture of the internal politics of the company with WhatsApp co-founder tweeting 'It is time. #deletefacebook' as he departed.

COO Sheryl Sandberg testifying to the U.S. Senate about foreign operations on social media in September. Sandberg reportedly downplayed evidence of Russian election interference on Facebook

COO Sheryl Sandberg testifying to the U.S. Senate about foreign operations on social media in September. Sandberg reportedly downplayed evidence of Russian election interference on Facebook

Facebook took multiple hits to its stock value this year which then dragged down its co-founder's net worth by almost 25 percent

Facebook took multiple hits to its stock value this year which then dragged down its co-founder's net worth by almost 25 percent

Georg Schaeffler, a German billionaire producer of ball bearings, machine components and car parts was second in the worst losses list of Bloomberg Billionaires

Georg Schaeffler, a German billionaire producer of ball bearings, machine components and car parts was second in the worst losses list of Bloomberg Billionaires

In November, before things could settle down, the New York Times dropped a bombshell about 'Lean In' author and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg's role during a variety of the company's scandals: ignoring Russian hacking, playing down Cambridge Analytica's data misuse and even lying about hiring the data company to target liberal billionaire George Soros.

The platform even received criticism earlier this year from the United Nations human rights experts weighing in on its culpability for the spread of hate speech leading to the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar.

Zuckerberg's embattled financial empire now stands at $57 billion down from $75 billion at the beginning of the year, the biggest loss among 500 billionaires according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

He still stands at number six on the Index's list of billionaires. 

German car parts industrialist Georg Schaeffler finds himself in second place with a loss of $13.8 billion for the year.

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