What happened
The king of social media wasn't looking so regal at the end of the trading week. Meta Platforms (META 1.54%) took a nearly 4% hit to its share price that day, on the back of a price-target cut from a prominent investment bank, plus a rival's poach of a veteran executive.
So what
That morning, Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak whipped out his scissors for a dramatic cut on Meta stock. Nowak reduced his price target to $225 per share from the previous $280. That doesn't make him a Meta bear, though, as he's maintaining his overweight (i.e., buy) recommendation on the stock.
The prognosticator's main concerns are the drops in engagement and a focus on Reels, which the company launched globally in February for users of Facebook and Instagram. This is a short video feature reminiscent of TikTok's highly popular, user-generated video briefs.
"We see Meta's declining US time spent trends and shift toward still-lower monetizing Reels engagement being larger near-term headwinds to revenue growth," Nowak wrote in a new analyst note.
Now what
That wasn't the only development pushing down Meta's price on Friday. The Wall Street Journal reported before market open that Roblox (RBLX -2.25%) has hired Steve Park away from the social media giant. Park was Meta's director of public policy for Korea and Japan, two important Asian markets, and had worked for the company for nearly nine years. An unnamed Roblox spokeswoman confirmed the hire, saying that Park will join his new company as Asia-Pacific head of public policy.
Meta hasn't yet responded to the report of Park's departure.
