Facebook share price – latest stock value as investors jump ship following 2018’s scandals
FACEBOOK'S shares nosedived after a major privacy blunder wiped more than £67billion off the company's value in 2018.
But what's caused the sharp decline? And can Facebook fix the problem?
How much are Facebook shares today?
As of Monday February 4, the value of the company was about $165.71 a share.
It is slightly down by 0.98.
The day before the value of the company was $166.89 a share.
How much have Facebook shares fallen by?
Facebook's shares began plummeting on Tuesday, March 27 after the US consumer protection regulator said it was investigating how 50million users' data got into the hands of political consultancy Cambridge Analytica.
More than $50billion (£35bn) was wiped off the value of shares in the wake of concerns over data breaches, and they later fell further.
At its lowest Zuck and co. were down by around $95billion (£67billion).
That drop is greater than the total market value of major corporations such as chip-maker Qualcomm ($85billion), Starbucks ($81billion) and Costco ($80billion).
The US Federal Trade Commission confirmed it was probing the social media mammoth's privacy practices.
But Facebook bosses are breathing a sigh of relief after the haemorrhage appeared to have been stemmed.
Ahead of markets opening on April 3, the value of the company was around $155 a share.
Why did Facebook's shares plummet?
Analysts blamed the decline in investors' confidence over fears of greater scrutiny of Facebook's handling of user data by US and European regulators.
The renewed concern over Facebook's approach to user privacy is fuelled by the platform's latest data breach.
British company Cambridge Analytica was found to have harvested the personal data of 50 million Facebook profiles.
The data had been collected by an app masquerading as a personality quiz.
This information was allegedly used to map out voter behaviour in 2016 for both the Brexit campaign and the US presidential election.
Cambridge Analytica is a British company that helps businesses "change audience behaviour", and helped get US President Donald Trump elected.
Facebook Data Breach – what happened?
Here's what you need to know...
- A personality quiz app obtained data for 270,000 willing Facebook users
- But it also sucked up info on all of their Facebook friends
- That meant the app caught data for around 50-60 million users
- This data was reportedly sold on to UK research firm Cambridge Analytica
- Cambridge Analytica helps politicians and lobby groups create propaganda
- The data was supposedly used to boost the Brexit campaign and get Trump into the White House
- Facebook is said to have known about the data breach since 2015
- The social network asked companies with the data to delete it, but didn't enforce the rule
- The Guardian revealed the incident in an exposé thanks to Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie
- There are now serious questions about whether Facebook has broken laws by giving up this data.
Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg has been asked to appear before Parliament to give evidence on the data scandal.
But the tech billionaire has decided to send another Facebook staffer to do the job instead.
He has, however, reportedly agreed to talk to Congress about the crisis.
Meanwhile advertisers have been telling the social media giant "enough is enough".
ISBA, a trade body which represents major UK advertisers, was set to meet Facebook on March 23.
Adding to its woes, US Congress has called on Zuckerberg to testify to a committee over Facebook's use of the personal information.
US senators Amy Klobuchar and John Kennedy have also called for a hearing about data security.
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They say Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, along with other tech executives, must provide answers on the way they treat privacy rights.
Facebook has since suspended its work with Cambridge Analytica.
The company is said to have known about the issue since 2015, but flatly denies that the fiasco was even a data breach.
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