For The First Time In Its History, Facebook Thumps $1trn Market Value.
Social Media giant, Facebook, has for the first time in its history, crossed the One Trillion Dollars ($1trn), in market capitalisation on Monday.
According to reports, the social media company’s stock closed 4.2% higher by close of trade on Monday at $355.64 per share and a market cap of $1.008 trillion, and the company has now become the fifth US company to reach the $1 trillion milestones after Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, and Alphabet.
The Cable gathered that Facebook shares rose following the US court dismissal of two antitrust lawsuits filed by the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and a coalition of 48 states and counties in December 2020, against the social media company due to the lack of evidence that the social media giant is a monopoly.
It was alleged by the plaintiffs that the company has a monopoly over personal social networking after it purchases WhatsApp and Instagram.
But the case was dismissed by a judge at the US district court for the District of Columbia, Jame Boasberg on a note that the FTC failed to provide sufficient evidence to back up the allegation.
In his words:
“The FTC’s complaint says almost nothing concrete on the key question of how much power Facebook actually had, and still has, in a properly defined anti-trust product market.”
He noted that the position of the agency in the case is almost as if they expect the court to simply nod to the conventional wisdom that Facebook is a monopolist.
The FTC has 30 days to file an amended complaint outlining its argument regarding Facebook’s market dominance.
In a separate order dismissing the states’ case, Boasberg said the states were barred from bringing their claim case because they waited too long to file a suit challenging Facebook’s 2012 purchase of Instagram and its 2014 acquisition of WhatsApp.
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Facebook, while reacting to the development said in a statement that they are pleased that today’s decisions recognize the defects in the government complaints filed against the social media company.
“We compete fairly every day to earn people’s time and attention and will continue to deliver great products for the people and businesses that use our services,” Facebook added.