Tech Founders Lost Nearly $9 Billion This Week As Big Tech Faces Increased Regulatory Scrutiny

Tech Founders Lost Nearly $9 Billion This Week As Big Tech Faces Increased Regulatory Scrutiny

THE CHANGING FORTUNES OF THE WORLD'S RICHEST

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hares of big tech companies have been driving the surge in the stock market during the pandemic. But this week heavyweights Amazon, Google and Facebook took a hit when faced with the prospect of increased regulatory scrutiny. Big tech stocks—and their founders' fortunes—fell after two separate antitrust lawsuits were announced against Facebook this week. 

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google's two cofounders—Larry Page and Sergey Brin—are a combined $8.5 billion poorer in the week through Friday, December 11.

The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday announced that it would sue Facebook for “illegal monopolization,” calling for the company to unwind its acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram. That same day, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced a separate antitrust lawsuit against the social media giant—joined by 47 other state and regional attorneys general—on similar grounds. Facebook's stock dropped 3.5% since the lawsuits were announced.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 posted their first weekly declines in three weeks, falling 0.6% and 1%, respectively, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index dropped 0.7%. Shares of major tech companies, however, fell by more: For the week, Facebook was down 2.2%, Amazon lost 1.5% and Google-parent Alphabet