Ritholtz Wealth Management CEO Josh Brown is taking advantage of the plunge in Meta stock. He bought the stock before Thursday’s open, even though it wasn’t a substantial position, he said on CNBC’s “Mid-Hour Report.” Meta fell more than 20% on Thursday, continuing the free-fall momentum that began after the social media company posted a low earnings and issued a weak forecast after the bell on Wednesday. Over the past year, Facebook’s parent company has seen a massive loss in market capitalization, currently sitting at around $270 billion. Over a year ago it was at $1 trillion. Brown’s move is not necessarily an endorsement of the company or its CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Instead, he bets on a potential shift when the company realizes it has to make some changes. “I could go in today and bet this guy doesn’t want to burn his house down,” Brown said. He likens this moment to the moment around Netflix’s recent decision to offer an ad-supported service. Brown said it was an idea Wall Street wanted but the company initially rejected. Since Netflix’s “Basic with Ads” tier was announced, the stock is up about 30%. “The only reason it could happen is because there was a confrontation. The leadership started listening to outside voices,” Brown said. “It can happen to Meta. Most of Meta’s injuries are self-inflicted.” While there’s no way to address the global advertising slowdown, it’s not the only issue weighing on the company, he said. “The problems with Meta — spending, lack of focus, lack of clarity — all of which I think are fixable,” says Brown. Earlier this week, Meta investor Brad Gerstner, Chairman and CEO of Altimeter Capital, wrote an open letter to Zuckerberg and the board, saying the company needed to cut staff and stop spending. spend too much on metaverse technology. After announcing Meta’s earnings, Gerstner told CNBC’s Scott Wapner that “the core business metrics are pretty good.” “If [Zuckerberg] continued spending was essentially flat, which was to be expected – stocks rose 10%. If he cuts a bit more and shows any acceptance of the trade-off/discipline, the stock will go up 20%. Instead, he cares less about shareholders and spends all his money in the face of an uncertain economy,” he said. ty can’t solve his problems, he will move on.