Facebook shares rose on Friday after Mark Zuckerberg reduced the risk facing the social media giant in a future change in Apple’s privacy policies.
“I am confident that we will be able to handle this situation,” he said in an interview in Josh Constine’s PressClub Clubhouse. “We will be in a good position. I think we may even be in a stronger position. ”
The stock rose 4% to close at $ 290.11 – the highest one-day gain in November. The stock market also reached its highest intraday level since November.
Shares, however, are still down nearly 5 percent below a record closing price of $ 303.91 on August 26, the same day Facebook posted a blog post sounding the alarm about the impact Apple’s changes to its targeted advertising business.
In question is a code related to Apple devices known as Identification for advertisers, which companies like Facebook use to target users and track the performance of ads. A future update of the Apple iOS14 operating system, which will be released in early spring, will require users to choose to share this information with developers.
Investors have voiced concern that this change will diminish Facebook’s ability to target ads to these sought-after consumers, and the stock of social media giant has struggled as a result.
Zuckerberg’s comments to PressClub on Friday downplayed how much he could pose a risk to Apple for its revenue.
“Facebook generally overestimates the challenges it faces, not underestimates it,” Jacob Jacob, Jacob Internet Fund manager for Bloomberg News, said. “If Facebook says this is more of an obstacle than an obstacle, it would be encouraging.”