Meta Platforms Inc plunged 25 percent, falling back $ 251.3 billion in market value , largest ever market loss for the US tech giant.

Analysts are concerned about the severe competition Meta currently confronts from rivals, as well as the fact that sales fell short of forecasts. “These cuts run deep”. The results were “a headline grabber and not in a good way."

Michael Nathanson, an analyst at brokerage Moffett Nathanson, titled his note “Facebook: The Beginning of the End?". “Lots of U.S. megacaps are priced as growth stocks. They may suffer more in a rising yield environment, especially if growth becomes more questionable," wrote Frederic Rollin, senior investment advisor at Pictet Asset Management.

The market capitalization of Meta as of this week close was around $900 billion. Google's parent firm, Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc., and Apple Inc. are all members of the original Faang cohort of tech megacaps.

This is not the first time Meta shares have plunged. The stock dropped 19 percent in July 2018 due to a halt in user growth, resulting in a market valuation drop of nearly $120 billion. It was the greatest single-day loss of value for a publicly traded corporation in the United States at the time.

Earlier CIO Insider reported that Meta shares lost $ 200 billion in market value after hours, while peers Twitter Inc, Snap Inc, and Pinterest Inc lost additional $15 billion.

Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) shares were down almost two percent after the company reported record quarterly sales that outperformed expectations.

Meta, the world's second-largest digital ad platform after Google, has previously warned that its advertising business would face ‘substantial uncertainty’ in the fourth quarter.

According to Meta, first-quarter sales are projected to be in the $ 27 billion to $29 billion area. Analysts projected $30.15 billion, according to Refinitiv's IBES figures.

According to Refinitiv's IBES data, the company's overall revenue grew to $ 33.67 billion in the fourth quarter from $28.07 billion the year before, exceeding analysts' expectations of $33.40 billion.

Meta's augmented and virtual reality branch, Reality Labs, lost $10.2 billion in fiscal year 2021, compared to a $6.6 billion loss the previous year. This was the company's first time separating this segment from the rest of its earnings.

“We’re hopeful the company kitchen-sinked the outlook," adds Shyam Patil, an analyst at Susquehanna Financial Group.