Legal risks combined with AI's high costs cause Meta's market value to evaporate by $280 billions, raising concerns about tobacco industry-style risks

Gelonghui, March 31｜At the beginning of the year, Meta Platforms Inc. looked like one of the best-performing large tech stocks in the market. However, investor concerns over legal risks and the massive spending on artificial intelligence (AI) are steadily emerging, ultimately leading to an 11% plunge in the stock price last week. Shares of the Facebook and Instagram parent company have dropped 17% cumulatively this month, setting up for its worst single-month performance since October 2022. At that time, Meta provided a disappointing revenue outlook, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg pleaded with investors to remain patient regarding the company's ever-expanding spending on the Metaverse. Now, Meta is downplaying the Metaverse concept and shifting its focus to artificial intelligence. Yet, the market's worries over the company's runaway spending have only intensified. Although many believe it's still too early to draw conclusions, Wall Street is now trying to assess a possibility: whether the social media company could face the same kind of contraction risk that the tobacco industry suffered after the implementation of stricter anti-smoking regulations. Ingalls & Snyder Senior Portfolio Strategist Tim Ghriskey said: “I don’t necessarily think this is the same as the tobacco industry, but stranger things have happened.” The institution, which manages around $11 billion in assets, holds Meta shares. Earlier in his career, Ghriskey was responsible for tobacco industry research and also spent considerable time evaluating litigation risks.