Mark Zuckerberg made $29 billion this morning after Meta stock makes record surge::Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth increased by more than $28 billion between your morning coffee and your lunch break.

  • the_q@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    If you have money you’ll make money. It’s all bullshit. Valuation and stocks and trends… It’s all made up nonsense created to make sure the rich remain rich and Walmart employees remain on food stamps. Why we aren’t constantly protesting or better yet destroying this system is beyond me. I guess the bulk of you assume one day you’ll benefit from this system of suffering so you keep it in place just in case. Fuck.

    • can@sh.itjust.works
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      10 months ago

      Why we aren’t constantly protesting or better yet destroying this system is beyond me.

      When you’re burnt out at your shitty job that barely covers your needs it’s hard to revolt. Which is of course by design.

      • agent_flounder@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        I think if you’re just scraping by then you have more to lose immediately than is worth the risk compared to what you might gain eventually.

    • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      I want to destroy it so bad. But my kids are able to sleep peacefully and night and have full bellies. Will the power vacuum we create ensure that survives? Even if I don’t?

      • the_q@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        I’m glad your kids get the comfort and safety this capitalistic nightmare provides, but many kids don’t.

        • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Help me organize against citizens united and I’ll follow you into the 10 hells. Until then, its just me versus the capitalists that control my life. Thats the mode we all exist in right now. Because I really do know that doing nothing curses them.

    • oakey66@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      The reason people aren’t protesting in not some fantasy that they’ll benefit from it one day but that they will fall under the weight of capitalism’s heavy hand if they get recorded protesting and get fired or get a sick day and get fired and lose everything. The reason that the wealthy don’t want a safety net is not just because they hate the poor (they do) but because they have control over a population of workers who live in fear of the economic meat grinder. The system is so much more cynical and cruel than I would have imagined possible.

      • Skeezix@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        The answer is simpler: things arent bad enough. Also, nobody is protesting because everyone is sitting around wondering why nobody else is protesting rather than going out and protesting.

    • Rooskie91@discuss.online
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      10 months ago

      This is my opinion, but I think protest is worthless unless the people protesting show that they are willing to give up somethingsomething important to get what they want. I don’t think we’ll make progress until people are willing to give up the status quo for a better future. The mind hates uncertainty, so even shitty future that’s predictable is more desirable than a possible better, but uncertain future.

      The middle class came into existence because people that would never be a part of it were willing to give their lives for it. Many did. If we are not willing to sacrifice our safety and secure future for a better life we may never experience, we will make no progress.

    • Unforeseen@sh.itjust.works
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      10 months ago

      “You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inert, so hopelessly dependent on the system that they will fight to protect it.”

    • yeehaw@lemmy.ca
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      10 months ago

      We can destroy it but that’s also discomfort. Your quality of life will likely go down, and if not you, for many as this battle ensues.

      I bet you, like me, enjoy leaving the stress of work behind at the end of the day and turning on Netflix, or whatever your vice is, instead of skipping work, and my extension your pay, and not being able to afford the comfort of eating a dinner and watching Netflix after work.

      Not everyone is at a point they’re infuriated enough to revolt. A revolution is the only way anything is going to change.

    • bratosch@lemm.ee
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      10 months ago

      I honestly just think it’s ignorance and/or plain idiocy. One of my closest friends who’s not dumb by any means, bought a home with his gf when homes were highly overvalued but loan rates were still on a record low (European country). I asked him if it was really such a good idea and if they couldn’t just rent or keep living seperately for a while longer - but no.

      Well, when everything caught up and their rate doubled all of a sudden it’s hard to make their economy work (luckily they get by and are both educated but the rates can’t go much higher before shit hits the fan).

      He later had to get a new car and could barely afford a 20yo used car and complained that it’s hard to have money left after all costs of living and I, like a good (bad?) friend, discreetly (not very much) brought up the fact that I “told him so”. His response was “yes I know but those are the rules we just have to play by and it’s out of our control”.

      • CustodialTeapot@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        So, what you’re saying is… Is house rates went up on his mortgage right?

        And because of that he became poor?

        So you’re saying your right with the assumption that if he rented his rent wouldn’t also double??

          • CustodialTeapot@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            Okay, wow.

            You do know rent is just someone with a mortgage on a house too right? (Paid off or not)

            And if that landlords mortgage goes up, that will also make the rent they charge go up. ( Often far more than the rent, as it’s percentage related. So, if your friend was renting, he’d be even worse off…

            • bratosch@lemm.ee
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              10 months ago

              Firstly, apartment complexes and the likes are usually owned by bigger companies with more leverage when negotiating loan rates compared to individuals. Secondly, renting a small apartment while holding on to their down payment money / saving even more is clearly gonna be cheaper than buying a 2 bedroom home in the middle of a city.

    • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
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      10 months ago

      Because people take the easy way out. They keep their head down and repeat a few lines they heard Hasan say in between piss breaks where he plays someone else’s video in its entirety and think they are heroes. Oh, maybe they voted for Bernie.

      And… that does jack all. On the off chance labor DOES manage to unite, you get the usual outcome which is people getting pissy that they can’t get a coffee at their local starbucks or angry they have to use the back door to the building. Not to mention people constantly attacking labor themselves (remember how everyone insisted it was rogue fedex drivers stealing their PS5s? All while ignoring that the logistics of doing that when you are monitored to the point of needing to piss in a gatorade bottle while driving…)

      And no, Bernie 2016 was not the solution either. He would have been the most ineffective president in the history of the US because congress would have stopped everything he tried.

      No, the answer is… what the republicans are doing. No, not insurrection and terrorism and giving out handjobs in between visits from child prostitutes. Actually giving a shit about the entire ballot. Getting people on school boards and in county and state governments. Because a “grass roots” campaign to elect the top seat does almost nothing. A “grass roots” campaign to… actually grow some grass leads to change.

      But it is so much easier to just talk about how liberals and democrats are truly the source of all problems and how engaging in the system at all is a fool’s errand (and supporting Xinnie The Poo and Putin in the process) than it is to actually get involved with your local democrats (or even similarly aligned third parties) to actually push for the candidates who represent you.

      • Xhieron@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Your solution to rampant economic inequality is … campaign and vote downballot.

        I mean, sure, that’s a great idea, but your argument essentially boils down to combating apathy (which isn’t a new or unique problem), and I guess attacking a hypothetical Sanders administration that never happened because–I dunno, you just wanted to get a jab in at voters who were actually motivated about a candidate for once in a lifetime? Well, good news for you; all the Sanders supporters are back to voting defensively until their kids grow up, if they vote at all. Does that feel like a win to you?

        People aren’t “taking the easy way out” by not voting the entire ballot. In fact, split-ticket voting is down historically, at least as of 2020, across both parties. Blaming people for not devoting their lives to political activism is akin to blaming minimum wage workers for not walking out: Yeah, maybe things would be better if they did, but people have to survive. Choosing to use what little spare time one has with family instead of participating in local politics isn’t a moral failure, and it’s not the easy way out. It’s just rational. People have limited time and limited means, and there are more important things than who gets to be the constable next year.

        • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
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          10 months ago

          Thanks for reiterating why there are no revolts or even regular protests

          Because, when faced with the actual solution that is already demonstrably effective, you:

          1. Complain you didn’t get a nonsensical magic solution.
          2. Say you are busy and people should be ashamed of calling things out

          But hey. I’m sure you’ll make time to bring food to a striking workforce or bust a cop in the face after you get pepper sprayed and shot at. Just so long as it isn’t a new episode of young Sheldon

  • edric@lemm.ee
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    10 months ago

    If I made 29B in one morning, I’d fuck off and will never be heard of again in the news.

      • yeehaw@lemmy.ca
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        10 months ago

        Isn’t that crazy? Any one of us would have more money than we knew what to do with, with only 1/1000th of his profits today. That’s how tipped the scales are in capitalism these days.

        • Lettuce eat lettuce@lemmy.ml
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          10 months ago

          I remember learning recently that if we magically confiscated 99.9% of the wealth of the top 100 richest people in the world, all of them would still be in the top 0.01% of the world’s population wealth-wise.

          Just insane.

    • GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml
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      10 months ago

      The 29B would go away if he fucked off, and probably then some.

      It’s not actually real money, it’s estimated net worth based on stock ownership in Meta, of which Mark Zuckerberg is a large enough shareholder to have his actions directly impact its perceived value.

      If he quits today, the stock likely tanks. Making an exit and keeping the money in his position is a complicated and delicate affair.

      • kromem@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        If he quits today, the stock likely tanks.

        If he quit today I’d immediately buy the stock.

        He’s the sole reason I don’t own it and never have.

        They have some of the best engineering talent among the big players, but he’s kind of terrible at product vision and historically supposed to be a micromanager.

        As an example, I recall discussing a dislike button with an employee a decade ago. No public indicator, just telling the algorithm “I don’t like this” to balance the public “I like this”. Allegedly, that was infamously a no-go from the very top.

        Fun fact: when training an AI on data, the gold standard is to have both positive and negative reinforcement metadata.

        I’ve often wondered what it would have been like to be a fly on the wall when his ML engineers were explaining to him just how valuable it would have been to have over a decade of both signals from billions of people when they were shifting gears into competing with OpenAI/Google on AI.

    • filister@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Pretty much what the founder of MySpace but I think back then he made a lot less than 29B

    • EatATaco@lemm.ee
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      10 months ago

      Pretty much everyone is bad at picking stocks. You should just stick to index funds.

        • EatATaco@lemm.ee
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          10 months ago

          I’m really not sure if this is sarcasm. I think it is, but I’ve heard people say stuff this ignorant and actually mean it.

          • /home/pineapplelover@lemm.ee
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            10 months ago

            Nah it was sarcasm. The whole gme thing was like one in a million shot. I was subbed before the whole thing took off and thought they were just kidding and not actually buying it.

            • EatATaco@lemm.ee
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              10 months ago

              I have an account that I gamble with, it represents anywhere from 1 to 5% of my total portfolio, depending on how good or bad my bets are. Lol

              But any time I’ve taken a yolo bet like those, it’s failed miserably. However I’ve never made big bets on things like that, it was always just for fun. But I also recognize how dumb it is which is why the vast majority of my investments are in index funds.

    • nomad@infosec.pub
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      10 months ago

      Jup, people don’t realize that he needs to sell Facebook to realize these gains. And pay tax on that. At this level of wealth, companies are not about earning money but having influence and power.

      • willington@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        10 months ago

        He doesn’t need to sell, no.

        It’s collateral for a low interest loan.

        Look up “buy borrow die” on a search engine.

  • ExLisper@linux.community
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    10 months ago

    On Friday, shares of Meta (META) jumped more than 20% on the news of a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share to be paid out on March 26 to shareholders of record as of February 22.

    Let me get this straight: Meta said that for every stock you have month from now you will get $0.50 two months from now and people started buying like crazy. So basically people are betting that they will be able sell the stock right after Feb 22 before it loses more than $0.50? Am I getting this right? This system is so fucked up…

    • kromem@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      No, the idea is that a stock that previously never provided a dividend now suddenly is.

      This means that now their stock may meet criteria for certain types of institutional investment holdings that look for or require dividends.

      At this point, a lot of the stock market is traded less on “the market thinks this company will do well” and more “my algorithm thinks other algorithms will value this stock in a given way.”

      For example, IIRC the majority of trade volume is after hours, meaning that while the markets are closed to main street investors is when the value of companies is really being decided between brokerages and institutional investors.

      While not entirely a rigged game because companies actually doing well does tend to result in net price increases, a significant portion of the money to be made in the stock market is unequivocally rigged.

    • Skates@feddit.nl
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      10 months ago

      So basically people are betting that they will be able sell the stock right after Feb 22 before it loses more than $0.50?

      Not necessarily. With all it gained, they can even sell tomorrow. Or at any point before it takes the next massive hit.

      • ExLisper@linux.community
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        10 months ago

        I mean, yes, you’re right but nothing about the company changed. So people betting that the stock will go up are basically betting that people will buy it for the dividends.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    10 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth increased by more than $28 billion between your morning coffee and your lunch break.

    The Meta founder and CEO — who is already worth more than $140 billion, according to Bloomberg’s billionaire index — has cleaned up from Meta’s share price skyrocketing over the past day, after the company announced its first-ever cash dividend program.

    Zuckerberg owns about 350 million shares of the company, according to the US Securities and Exchange Commission

    Unless he sells or buys more shares of company stock, and assuming the quarterly dividend remains at the same level, Zuckerberg will also gain off of the company’s dividend payouts to the tune of approximately $700 million per year.

    This upswing plasters over potential harm to Meta stock after Zuckerberg, alongside other social media company heads, testified Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the risks their products pose to young people.

    Zuckerberg apologized to the parents in attendance, who say their children were victims of social media.


    The original article contains 323 words, the summary contains 164 words. Saved 49%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

    • DogPeePoo@lemm.ee
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      10 months ago

      Step 1: Layoff thousands of employees,

      Step 2: Buy back your stock in order to juice the numbers before earnings

      Step 3: Utter the word “A.I.” on CNBC a couple of times.

      Step 4: Watch as the Market Makers (who are net long your stock) abuse their privilege to boast a single day gain of $200,000,000,000 (two hundred billion dollars)