It’s no longer a mystery that Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta before he became Facebook, hasn’t exactly seen success with his metaverse strategy. According to Bloomberg, the billionaire’s wealth has decreased by a staggering $71 billion this year, leaving him with a pitiful $55.9 billion remaining, making him only the 20th richest person in the world. Yes, that still provides a lot of pocket money. However, it’s the lowest position he’s had in eight years, indicating just how far he has plummeted. According to the survey, he was third in the world two years ago and had almost twice as much wealth.

Even the co-founders of Microsoft and Amazon, Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, have lost far less than that, despite the fact that 2022 has been devastating for global markets and other digital giants as well. The lesson? Zuckerberg is in severe jeopardy in the self-inflicted metaverse era.

Is Meta going down?

September 2021 just so happens to be the month before Zuckerberg announced the company’s name change and move to the metaverse. This is the biggest valuation for Facebook in recent memory. Since then, Zuckerberg has increased his commitment to the idea, which has so far only taken the form of a lonely, much mocked virtual playground that can only be accessed with the company’s cumbersome virtual reality equipment. In other terms, it’s understandable why investors didn’t like Zuckerberg’s $1 billion wager. Even now, some analysts claim, Zuckerberg is bringing Meta down with him.

“I think Facebook is not going to do well as long as he’s there,” senior Harvard Business School fellow Bill George told CNBC last week. “He’s likely one of the reasons so many people are turning away from the company. He’s really lost his way.”

The company’s coffers are in ruins as a result. Recent financial figures from the business were dubbed “dismal” by Bloomberg, with TikTok gaining users from Meta’s Instagram left and right. In a sense, Zuckerberg has chained himself to Meta’s fate. He infamously owns hundreds of millions of shares, which gives him tremendous control over the business that he started. This means that the majority of his net worth is related to the company’s stock. Whether Zuckerberg will succeed in proving investors incorrect and transforming his idea of the metaverse into a significant new path for Meta remains to be seen. His ensuing shot? The new VR headgear that the business will be releasing in a month.