Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Meta, told his company’s board in September that he was thinking about leaving California and would put his Palo Alto home up for sale within days. His reason was the California billionaire tax, a measure on the Nov. 3 ballot that could cost him billions of dollars. Five days later, Meta’s board agreed to a deal requiring him to stay in the state, and the house remained off the market.
A listing date on the negotiating table
Proposition 40, the billionaire tax, would charge Californians worth $1 billion or more a one-time tax of 5 percent of what they own. Homes owned in a person’s own name do not count toward the total. Stock does, and most of Zuckerberg’s wealth is in Meta stock. Paying the tax would mean selling shares that give him control of the company, according to a filing Meta made with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Oct. 21.
Zuckerberg spent the summer negotiating a fix with a group of Meta board members, and the talks grew tense, according to the filing. At a Sept. 9 dinner, he gave the directors a date: He would list his Palo Alto home on Sept. 13. He told them the listing would be public and that Meta employees would notice it.
The board agreed to terms on Sept. 14, and the home stayed off the market. Under the deal, Meta will create new stock without voting rights. Zuckerberg can sell some of it to pay the tax and keep his control. To unlock the rest, he must live in California or wherever Meta is headquartered for eight years.
Shareholders who sued to block the deal say Zuckerberg pressured the board. They also say his threat to move was empty, because the tax applies to anyone who lived in California on Jan. 1. A judge has not ruled, and Meta has said the new stock serves several purposes.
What this means for real estate professionals: Agents market listings on Facebook and Instagram every day. Here, a listing that never went live became part of a deal that changes how the company behind both platforms issues stock and where its CEO must live. A listing date carries weight because everyone can see a listing, and Zuckerberg made that point to his own board.
What should be on your radar
More Americans call social media an important news source. In a Pew Research Center survey published Oct. 23, 58 percent of U.S. adults said social media is an important way they keep up with the news, up from 43 percent in 2022. Thirteen percent called it their most important news source, up from 5 percent. Among adults ages 18 to 29, the share reached 76 percent. Agents posting market updates before Election Day are publishing in the feeds where a majority of adults now follow the news.
Instagram is testing 90-minute videos. Instagram is testing Features, a format for videos up to 90 minutes long, in Brazil and in a small U.S. group. Reels top out at 20 minutes. The longer videos are built to play on Instagram’s TV app as well as on phones. A Meta spokesperson said it is too early to share how creators will earn money from the format. YouTube pays creators a share of ad revenue. If the test expands, agents could post full neighborhood tours and market breakdowns on Instagram instead of sending followers to YouTube.
Listing tours are getting the sitcom treatment. Agents are turning property tours into TikTok comedy. San Diego agent Merek Greene, 24, introduced a listing as a “Love Island” bombshell. Northern Virginia associate broker Lisa DuBois hides inside her listings for viewers to find, and her first hide-and-seek video drew about 14 million views. No strong data yet shows comedy tours outperform traditional ones in drawing buyers.
Protip
Ask AI to read your results before it writes your next post. Allstars Realty agent Krys Benyamein connected Meta Muse for Small Business, an AI tool Meta released in late September, to his Instagram professional account. He had it analyze 1,133 of his posts, he wrote in a recent Inman column.
The review showed carousels outperformed Reels, the format he posted most. It also found that at least 27 of his 98 newest followers work in real estate. Start with his first prompt. Ask the tool to name your biggest weakness among reach, engagement, profile visits, follower growth and conversion, and to show the data behind its answer before it offers any content advice. Then ask for new ideas based only on your best-performing posts.
Each week on Trending, Inman’s Jessi Healey dives into what’s buzzing in social media and why it matters for real estate professionals. From viral trends to platform changes, she’ll break it all down so you know what’s worth your time — and what’s not.
