Zuckerberg Adds a Comma to the Scorecard

Much like bad news, good news can come in waves.

Such was the case on Monday for Zuckerberg and company when a federal judge dismissed two antitrust lawsuits filed against Facebook. Also on Monday, Facebook joined its big-tech brethren in the four comma club (>$1 trillion valuation). All of a sudden, Justin Timberlake needs to redefine what’s cool.

Four Comma Club

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg granted the social-media giant’s requests to dismiss lawsuits filed in two separate lawsuits:

• First, he batted down a complaint from the FTC, which had been seeking penalties including a forced breakup of Facebook after what it called unfair acquisitions of Instagram and Whatsapp. Boasberg said the agency’s lawsuit was “legally insufficient.”
• Boasberg dismissed a similar lawsuit brought by 46 states on the basis that any alleged violations took place too long ago.

Yesterday’s announcement matters for all the obvious reasons — it’s a mammoth blow to regulators who say Facebook abused its power and market knowledge to squeeze out or acquire lesser rivals.

Facebook’s share price jumped more than 4% on the news, catapulting the company past a $1 trillion market cap for the first time (impress your friends with the knowledge that Facebook is the only company founded after 2000 in the trillion + club).

So What’s Next?

Some analysts say Facebook is just getting started. On Monday Evercore Analyst said Facebook’s bet on virtual reality is “bigger than you think and “may be hiding the true profitability of the company’s core social media business.”

Mahaney added that Facebook is on track to sell more than eight million Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality headsets in their first year. As they should, Facebook has a reported 10,000 people working on virtual reality devices. God help us.