Facebook has found itself in the headlines a lot in 2018, but not for reasons investors are likely to be excited about. The tech giant battled privacy scandals, policy changes, and dwindling user engagement throughout the year, and in July the company made history with an overnight drop of $119 billion in market capitalization – the single largest drop in U.S. history. We did today’s chart in conjunction with Extraordinary Future 2018, a tech conference featuring Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie as a speaker on Sep 19-20 in Vancouver, BC, to show Facebook’s volatile year in perspective. Here is a recap of some of the more major events that prompted volatility so far in 2018:
Zuckerberg Sells Shares
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg drew attention in September 2017 when he announced plans to systematically sell off up to $12 billion in stock – nearly 50% of his personal stake. It’s all part of a plan to transfer the bulk of his stake to the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative. Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan founded the philanthropic company at the end of 2015 with the stated focus of “personalized learning, curing disease, connecting people and building strong communities.” Zuckerberg started unloading stock with an initial sale of 1.14 million shares in February 2018 – the biggest insider sale of shares of any public company in the preceding three months. While analysts didn’t see any red flags for the sale at the time, the volume came when the share price needed all the stability it could get.
Facebook’s Privacy Scandal
On March 16, The Guardian and The New York Times published joint exposés reporting that 50 million Facebook user profiles were harvested by Cambridge Analytica without user knowledge. Later estimates pegged that number at closer to 87 million profiles. Facebook soon found itself the focus of an investigation from the Federal Trade Commission, and published full-page ads in British and American newspapers to apologize for a “breach of trust”. As Facebook scrambled to regain user trust, share values dropped by 17.8% over the 10 days after the scandal broke. In April, Zuckerberg appeared before Senate to answer tough questions about Facebook’s privacy policies. The CEO’s testimony restored some faith in the stock, and it gained some traction over the next three months, but the damage was already done.
Facebook’s History-Making Stock Drop
Facebook posted disappointing Q2 results on July 24, attributing their sluggish quarter to dropping user numbers and continued privacy challenges driven by General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) deadlines. The report triggered an overnight stock drop of 19% – the single biggest one-day value loss ($119 billion) in U.S. stock market history. As a result of the rout, Zuckerberg’s personal fortune dropped by nearly $16 billion, an amount that exceeds the total market cap of companies like Dropbox or Snapchat.
Where to from here?
Is this the end for Facebook? The halo may have slipped from the social media golden child, but the company may not be in danger quite yet. The company’s namesake social network is not the only sandbox it plays in, and the company’s diversity is just the thing that might keep Facebook afloat amidst changing social media sentiment. Facebook’s purchases of Instagram and WhatsApp are paying off, as those platforms continue to grow steadily. Meanwhile, the investment in Oculus Go could be a game-changer for VR, bringing standalone virtual reality systems to the home market. Finally, Facebook is leveraging its main social network as a place to fine tune algorithms and pave the way for new developments in artificial intelligence and machine learning. Despite Facebook’s challenges in the realm of social media this year, its expansion into other emerging technologies might help the company secure its future. on But fast forward to the end of last week, and SVB was shuttered by regulators after a panic-induced bank run. So, how exactly did this happen? We dig in below.
Road to a Bank Run
SVB and its customers generally thrived during the low interest rate era, but as rates rose, SVB found itself more exposed to risk than a typical bank. Even so, at the end of 2022, the bank’s balance sheet showed no cause for alarm.
As well, the bank was viewed positively in a number of places. Most Wall Street analyst ratings were overwhelmingly positive on the bank’s stock, and Forbes had just added the bank to its Financial All-Stars list. Outward signs of trouble emerged on Wednesday, March 8th, when SVB surprised investors with news that the bank needed to raise more than $2 billion to shore up its balance sheet. The reaction from prominent venture capitalists was not positive, with Coatue Management, Union Square Ventures, and Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund moving to limit exposure to the 40-year-old bank. The influence of these firms is believed to have added fuel to the fire, and a bank run ensued. Also influencing decision making was the fact that SVB had the highest percentage of uninsured domestic deposits of all big banks. These totaled nearly $152 billion, or about 97% of all deposits. By the end of the day, customers had tried to withdraw $42 billion in deposits.
What Triggered the SVB Collapse?
While the collapse of SVB took place over the course of 44 hours, its roots trace back to the early pandemic years. In 2021, U.S. venture capital-backed companies raised a record $330 billion—double the amount seen in 2020. At the time, interest rates were at rock-bottom levels to help buoy the economy. Matt Levine sums up the situation well: “When interest rates are low everywhere, a dollar in 20 years is about as good as a dollar today, so a startup whose business model is “we will lose money for a decade building artificial intelligence, and then rake in lots of money in the far future” sounds pretty good. When interest rates are higher, a dollar today is better than a dollar tomorrow, so investors want cash flows. When interest rates were low for a long time, and suddenly become high, all the money that was rushing to your customers is suddenly cut off.” Source: Pitchbook Why is this important? During this time, SVB received billions of dollars from these venture-backed clients. In one year alone, their deposits increased 100%. They took these funds and invested them in longer-term bonds. As a result, this created a dangerous trap as the company expected rates would remain low. During this time, SVB invested in bonds at the top of the market. As interest rates rose higher and bond prices declined, SVB started taking major losses on their long-term bond holdings.
Losses Fueling a Liquidity Crunch
When SVB reported its fourth quarter results in early 2023, Moody’s Investor Service, a credit rating agency took notice. In early March, it said that SVB was at high risk for a downgrade due to its significant unrealized losses. In response, SVB looked to sell $2 billion of its investments at a loss to help boost liquidity for its struggling balance sheet. Soon, more hedge funds and venture investors realized SVB could be on thin ice. Depositors withdrew funds in droves, spurring a liquidity squeeze and prompting California regulators and the FDIC to step in and shut down the bank.
What Happens Now?
While much of SVB’s activity was focused on the tech sector, the bank’s shocking collapse has rattled a financial sector that is already on edge.
The four biggest U.S. banks lost a combined $52 billion the day before the SVB collapse. On Friday, other banking stocks saw double-digit drops, including Signature Bank (-23%), First Republic (-15%), and Silvergate Capital (-11%).
Source: Morningstar Direct. *Represents March 9 data, trading halted on March 10.
When the dust settles, it’s hard to predict the ripple effects that will emerge from this dramatic event. For investors, the Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen announced confidence in the banking system remaining resilient, noting that regulators have the proper tools in response to the issue.
But others have seen trouble brewing as far back as 2020 (or earlier) when commercial banking assets were skyrocketing and banks were buying bonds when rates were low.
