Meta Platforms (META) shares closed Thursday at $644.38, down $9.31 or 1.42%, as a New Mexico jury watched a video deposition of CEO Mark Zuckerberg in the state's Cambridge Analytica lawsuit. The testimony doesn't introduce a new liability amount but moves the trial from opening statements to evidence about what Meta's leadership knew and how Facebook represented its data practices.
The key number for shareholders is already in Meta's filings: New Mexico's attorney general has indicated the state intends to seek up to $62.85 billion in penalties. At Thursday's closing price, that claim equals about 3.8% of Meta's roughly $1.64 trillion equity value and nearly 70% of the $90.26 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities reported as of June 30.
That figure is a maximum demand, not an expected judgment. But it's large enough that investors should monitor the violation count and any potential injunction rather than dismissing the trial as routine regulatory noise.
What Zuckerberg's Deposition Adds
On the second day of the trial, New Mexico lawyers played a recorded Zuckerberg deposition covering Facebook's data-privacy policies, content moderation, and misinformation practices, according to Source New Mexico's courtroom report. The state alleges that Facebook misrepresented how user information was collected, shared, and exploited after data linked to roughly 87 million profiles reached Cambridge Analytica. Meta argues the state's evidence concerns outdated practices and that the company has since strengthened its safeguards.
Executive testimony matters because the case centers on alleged representations to users, not just whether a third-party app obtained data. Jurors must decide the number of violations; the judge will ultimately determine the payment. Evidence connecting public assurances to senior management could influence that first question even if it doesn't settle the second.
The New Mexico Department of Justice says the trial should last about four weeks. Its planned witness sequence includes the Zuckerberg video, a deposition from former COO Sheryl Sandberg, and two experts. The state court calendar runs through October 2, making this an ongoing catalyst rather than a one-day event.
Why .85 Billion Is Not Simple Per-User Math
New Mexico's Unfair Practices Act allows a maximum civil penalty of $5,000 per violation. Dividing Meta's disclosed $62.85 billion maximum demand by $5,000 implies 12.57 million alleged violations. That's an inference from the company's filing, not a violation count already found by a jury.
The distinction is important. The Associated Press reported that the state estimates about 350,000 New Mexico residents were exposed to the Cambridge Analytica breach and has argued the harm extended to more than two million residents. A penalty theory can count conduct, representations, or affected transactions differently from a simple tally of people. Until jury instructions and the verdict specify the unit of violation, multiplying residents by $5,000 is incomplete.
There's a recent benchmark, though it concerns a different New Mexico case. In August, a court ordered Meta to pay $942 million over youth-safety claims. That total included a $375 million civil penalty based on 75,000 violations at $5,000 each and $567 million for court-supervised remedies. It shows how quickly statutory counts and non-cash operating requirements can compound; it doesn't predict the Cambridge Analytica verdict.
Meta Can Fund a Large Loss, But Cash Isn't Idle
Meta's second-quarter 10-Q shows both its capacity and constraints. The company generated $64.09 billion of operating cash flow in the first half and held $90.26 billion in cash and marketable securities. It also spent $50.92 billion on capital expenditures and finance-lease principal, while $10.80 billion of money-market funds had been reclassified into restricted cash for infrastructure commitments.
Legal costs are already visible in earnings. Meta recorded $2.40 billion of charges related to legal proceedings in the June quarter, helping push general and administrative expenses up 111% year-over-year. A final award well below the headline demand could still affect reported margins and the cash available for AI infrastructure, buybacks, and dividends.
The counterargument is scale. Even the full $62.85 billion claim is less than 4% of Meta's market value, and a trial-court award could face post-trial motions and appeals. Meta also agreed in August to an up-to-$18 billion multistate settlement that, according to the Associated Press, released participating states' future Cambridge Analytica liability. New Mexico remains the only state taking this particular case to trial, reducing the risk that identical claims multiply across the country.
What Would Change the META Stock Thesis
Thursday's 1.42% decline left Meta at $644.38 after a 6.6% jump the previous session. The broader Nasdaq Composite lost 0.65% Thursday, so Meta underperformed, but one session can't isolate the trial from the oil-and-yield selloff that hit technology shares broadly.
The next decision-useful signals are narrower: testimony that changes the plausible violation count, a ruling that limits or expands the state's penalty theory, and any proposed injunction touching data collection or advertising. Sandberg's deposition is especially relevant because the state describes her former role as turning user data into revenue.
For now, the $62.85 billion figure belongs in a risk range, not an earnings model. The deposition makes that range harder to ignore; the jury's definition of a violation will determine whether it deserves a much larger discount in META stock.
