A collapse in the share price of Meta which fell by 24% after the Facebook owner revealed that profits have halved to $4.5 billion, has netted short sellers with a gain of $1 billion, according to a report by the Telegraph.

A collapse in the share price of Meta which fell by 24% after the Facebook owner revealed that profits have halved to $4.5 billion, has netted short sellers with a gain of $1 billion, according to a report by the Telegraph.

The report cites analysis from financial data company S3 Partners as revealing that hedge funds held short positions accounting for around 1% of Meta's total stock when the share price cashed which is estimated to have generated around $768 million in profits on Thursday alone. That figure rises to over $1 billion if trading activity on the previous day is also taken into account, according to S3 Partners.

The share price crash wiped $66 billion from Meta's value as the company's stock fell to its lowest level since early 2016.

Meta chief executive reportedly owns just over 13% of the company's stock with Meta's share price decline over the past year believed to have wiped around $100 billion from his net wealth.