Facebook stock opens slightly higher as Zuckerberg begins second day on Capitol Hill
WASHINGTON — On Wednesday Facebook stock opened slightly higher than its previous close as CEO Mark Zuckerberg prepared for his second day of questioning from lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
When U.S. markets opened at 9:30 a.m., EDT Facebook sold for $165.360 a share. At Tuesday’s close the company’s stock sold for $165.040 a share.
The mere 0.32 point jump in price approximately 30 minutes before Zuckerberg met with the House Energy and Commerce Committee might give investors the impression that international scrutiny over unauthorized data sharing has not affected the Facebook’s financial portfolio.
At 12:30 p.m. EDT Facebook stock was going for more than $167 a share.
On Tuesday, Zuckerberg endured hours of bipartisan grilling before a joint panel of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Commerce and the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.
Zuckerberg told the panel that Facebook did not do enough to protect the data privacy of its users. He said the company has taken corrective action to prevent future breaches.
Facebook is at the center of a controversy involving the U.K. data mining company Cambridge Analytica. Through a contractor, Cambridge Analytica gathered personal information from an estimated 87 million Facebook users without obtaining the consent of many of those users. Russian data scientist Aleksandr Kogan accessed the data on behalf of Cambridge Analytica.
Cambridge Analytica worked with both the Trump and Brexit campaigns. The company has refuted allegations of impropriety.
Facebook is being investigated by 37 state attorneys general. The company faces more than more than $2 trillion in fines, with an estimated $50,000 penalty for each breach.
This article is republished with permission from Talk Media News
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