![\"facebook-share-price.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/static.independent.co.uk\/s3fs-public\/styles\/story_medium\/public\/thumbnails\/image\/2018\/01\/13\/10\/facebook-share-price.jpg\")
<\/p>\nMark Zuckerberg\u2019s decision to change the way\u00a0Facebook operates\u00a0people\u2019s news feeds has cost him $3.3bn, with his personal net worth dropping by 4.4 per cent, it is believed.<\/p>\n
After\u00a0Facebook\u00a0went public with the news feed change on Thursday, the website\u2019s share value dropped by nearly four per cent before US markets opened on Friday.<\/p>\n
By close of business on Friday Facebook shares were trading at $179.37, down more than 4.4 per cent on Thursday\u2019s price of $187.77.<\/p>\n
And\u00a0Forbes\u00a0has calculated that for Mr Zuckerberg, the co-founder, chairman and chief executive of Facebook, this translated into a personal hit of 3.3bn \u2013 a 4.4 per cent fall in his personal fortune.<\/p>\n
Mr Zuckerberg, 33, who started Facebook in 2004 aged 19, still owns a 17 per stake in the company, which went public in 2012.<\/p>\n
He explained his reasons for changing the news feed algorithm in a\u00a0Facebook post\u00a0on Thursday, saying he wanted the website to prioritise posts from friends and family over businesses and brands.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe built Facebook to help people stay connected and bring us closer together with the people that matter to us,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cBut recently we’ve gotten feedback that public content \u2013 posts from businesses, brands and media \u2013 is crowding out the personal moments that lead us to connect more with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBased on this,\u201d he added,\u00a0\u201cI’m changing the goal I give our product teams from focusing on helping you find relevant content to helping you have more meaningful social interactions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some, however, have\u00a0suggested\u00a0that the change might also have been influenced by Facebook\u2019s alleged desire to counteract what the company is believed to refer to as\u00a0\u201ccontext collapse\u201d.<\/p>\n
This is the phenomenon where people stop sharing as much information about their personal lives on Facebook, yielding less useful data for the advertisers on whom Facebook relies to make its money.<\/p>\n
Tweaking the news feed to encourage people to talk about their personal lives might, therefore, be seen as a means of increasing Facebook\u2019s commercial value.<\/p>\n
The markets, though, appear to have reacted badly to the news feed change, at least in the short term.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Some analysts, however, think the tweak will work well for the company in the long term.<\/p>\n
Mark Mahaney, an analyst at RBC, told\u00a0Bloomberg: \u201cMaking the feed more relevant should boost user and engagement growth over time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe these changes will be beneficial to Facebook in the medium and long term.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just how much Mr Zuckerberg will worry about the short term drop in his wealth is also unclear.<\/p>\n
Given that Facebook shares were trading at around $127 (\u00a392) a this time last year, the company\u2019s value is still up by more than 40 per cent year-on-year, even after this week\u2019s fall.<\/p>\n
Despite losing $3.3bn, Mr Zuckerberg is still worth $72.4bn (\u00a352.7bn).<\/p>\n
In December 2015 Mr Zuckerberg and his wife\u00a0Priscilla Chan\u00a0said they were planning to give away\u00a099 per cent\u00a0of their Facebook shares\u00a0down the line.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: Independent<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mark Zuckerberg\u2019s decision to change the way\u00a0Facebook operates\u00a0people\u2019s news feeds has cost him $3.3bn, with his personal net worth dropping by 4.4 per cent, it is believed. After\u00a0Facebook\u00a0went public with the news feed change on Thursday, the website\u2019s share value dropped by nearly four per cent before US markets opened on Friday. By close of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":185469,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[106],"tags":[339,3461,6443],"yoast_head":"\n