Mark Zuckerberg loses $12.2 billion as Meta shares slide on AI spending concerns

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg lost about $12.2billion from his fortune on Monday as shares of the technology company declined amid renewed investor concerns over the scale of its artificial intelligence spending.

Zuckerberg’s net worth fell 4.23% to an estimated $245.4 billion, pushing his fortune below the $250 billion mark, according to Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires Index.

The latest decline extends losses recorded on Friday, when Zuckerberg’s fortune dropped by about $8.9 billion following a selloff in Meta shares.

AI spending concerns hit Meta

Combined, the two-day decline has erased over $20 billion from the billionaire’s net worth.

• Meta shares were down more than 4% to $719.44 as of around noon Eastern Time on Monday, as investors weighed the company’s growing AI ambitions against the significant capital required to support them.
• The selloff follows a Goldman Sachs assessment of the level of revenue major technology companies may need to generate to justify their rapidly expanding investments in AI infrastructure.
• According to the report, companies such as Meta could need to generate around $300 billion in annual AI services revenue to break even on their capital spending and as much as $1 trillion to generate meaningful profits.

The assessment has renewed questions over how quickly technology companies, including Meta, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon and Oracle can convert billions of dollars in AI infrastructure spending into sustainable earnings.

Meta is expected to spend as much as $145 billion on capital expenditure in 2026 as Zuckerberg accelerates investments in computing infrastructure, AI models and related products.

The company has increasingly positioned AI as a major part of its long-term growth strategy, while committing significant resources to data centres, computing capacity and talent.

Zuckerberg wealth remains above July

Zuckerberg’s latest wealth decline comes just over two months after he reclaimed his position as the world’s fifth-richest person.

• In July, Nairametrics reported that Zuckerberg’s net worth stood at $222.1 billion, moving him ahead of Michael Dell, whose fortune had fallen to $221.1 billion following a selloff in Dell Technologies shares.
• The latest Forbes estimate of $245.4 billion means Zuckerberg’s fortune remains significantly above its July level despite losing over $20 billion over the past two trading sessions.
• His wealth has historically moved closely with Meta’s share price because a substantial portion of his fortune is tied to his stake in the Facebook and Instagram parent company.
• In August 2025, Nairametrics reported that gains in Meta shares had added about $61.5 billion to Zuckerberg’s fortune since the beginning of that year, taking his estimated net worth to about $269 billion at the time.

Zuckerberg’s latest losses also come as Meta continues to make artificial intelligence a central part of its long-term growth strategy.

In August 2026, Zuckerberg pushed back against concerns that advanced AI would lead to widespread job losses, arguing instead that the technology could expand individual capabilities, support the creation of new businesses and increase employment.

Meta expands AI business push

Before the latest selloff, Meta shares had gained about 36% in September, supported partly by investor optimism surrounding the company’s AI products.

Its Muse AI assistant recorded about 2.8 million downloads within its first two weeks, adding to optimism about consumer adoption of Meta’s AI offerings.

The decline also came as Meta announced the appointment of MongoDB CEO Chirantan “CJ” Desai as its chief enterprise platform officer.

Desai is expected to lead a new business focused on selling Meta’s AI models, agents, coding tools and application programming interfaces to companies and developers.