Five tech giants lost the equivalent of Saudi Arabia's GDP in six weeks

Much has been said about the vertiginous fall of Apple shares in the last few weeks, which may or may not be motivated by a lack of interest, which no one has yet proven, from consumers in relation to the new iPhones. It is good to note, however, that Ma is not alone in this downward spiral.

THE Fortune today published a story illustrating how the group of the five American technological giants considered most promising lost, in less than a month and a half, a sum greater than Saudi Arabia's GDP in terms of market value.

The group, commonly called FAANG and composed of Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google, lost combined $ 728 billion in market value more than Saudi Arabia's GDP (US $ 683 billion in 2017) and more than a third of Brazil's GDP (US $ 2 trillion in the same year). As the losses were almost proportional to their respective market values, Apple was the one that saw its shares drop more, see how much each one lost in market cap:

  • Apple: $ 231.06 billion
  • Amazon: $ 220.67 billion
  • Google: $ 138.22 billion
  • Facebook: $ 89.95 billion
  • Netflix: $ 48.11 billion

All companies lost more than 20% of their market value in the last month and a half, but, of all, Apple's fall is really the most formidable: Cult of Mac, the company lost in the last six weeks a value greater than the total sum in market value accumulated in its first 30 years as a company with shares on the stock exchange (it was only in 2010 that Ma exceeded the US $ 230 billion in market value) .

Apparently, the fall is also contributing to the fall of other companies, financial analyst Jim Cramer says that "the market will not stabilize until Apple stabilizes", for example. The problem that no one knows when this happens: Goldman Sachs bank, for example, cut the target price for Ma's shares to $ 182, stating that there is a “material risk” that the company will not meet the performance estimates released in the its latest financial results conference.

Another of the companies above that is in bad shape is Facebook: in addition to the general scenario of caution that has quickly established itself in the world of technology, the giant of Mark Zuckerberg still has to worry about its own very urgent problems, such as the possibility of further sanctions. governments around the world or regulatory measures that impel its growth due to recent controversies. One of the network's first investors, Jason Calacanis, said that this could be the beginning of the company's downfall, along the lines of AOL or Yahoo.

How long it will take the giants to return the boat to its original course if that is possible, and what devices they will use to do so are questions that remain unanswered. We'll have to wait and see.