Meta Platforms Inc on Wednesday posted sharply higher profit and revenue for the final quarter of last year, thanks to higher ad revenue on its social media properties, sending its shares up in after-hours trading even as it forecast increasing expenses on its artificial intelligence (AI) efforts.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he expects this year to “be the year when a highly intelligent and personalized AI assistant reaches more than 1 billion people, and I expect Meta AI to be that leading AI assistant.”
The company earned US$20.83 billion in the October-December quarter. That is up 49 percent from US$14.02 billion in the same period a year earlier. The parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp saw its net income soar 59 percent to US$62.36 billion for the full year.
Photo: Bloomberg
Revenue grew 21 percent to US$48.39 billion from US$40.11 billion in the fourth quarter, and 22 percent to US$164.5 billion last year, boosted by advertising performance as ad prices rose 10 percent and impressions increased 11 percent across its platforms.
For the current quarter, Meta said expects revenue of US$39.5 billion to US$41.8 billion. Analysts are expecting revenue at the high end of that range — US$41.68 billion.
The company also said it expects expenses in the range of US$114 billion to US$119 billion, driven by infrastructure costs and employee compensation. Meta had 74,067 employees as of Dec. 31, up 10 percent from a year earlier.
“By beating both earnings and revenue estimates, they’ve demonstrated that cost discipline and efficiency gains are paying dividends,” Investing.com analyst Jesse Cohen said. “However, the real headline is their commitment to aggressive capital expenditures. This signals Meta is doubling down on its AI infrastructure and metaverse ambitions, even as investors grapple with the costs.”
Separately, Meta has agreed to pay roughly US$25 million to settle a 2021 lawsuit that US President Donald Trump brought against the company and Zuckerberg after Trump’s accounts were suspended following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
“This is also going to be a big year for redefining our relationship with governments,” Zuckerberg said in a conference call with analysts. “We now have a US administration that is proud of our leading companies, prioritizes American technology winning, and that will defend our values and interests abroad. And I’m optimistic about the progress and innovation this is going to unlock.”
Meta’s stock rose 2 percent to US$690.02 in after-hours trading.
Semiconductor business between Taiwan and the US is a “win-win” model for both sides given the high level of complementarity, the government said yesterday responding to tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. Home to the world’s largest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), Taiwan is a key link in the global technology supply chain for companies such as Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp. Trump said on Monday he plans to impose tariffs on imported chips, pharmaceuticals and steel in an effort to get the producers to make them in the US. “Taiwan and the US semiconductor and other technology industries
SMALL AND EFFICIENT: The Chinese AI app’s initial success has spurred worries in the US that its tech giants’ massive AI spending needs re-evaluation, a market strategist said Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) start-up DeepSeek’s (深度求索) eponymous AI assistant rocketed to the top of Apple Inc’s iPhone download charts, stirring doubts in Silicon Valley about the strength of the US’ technological dominance. The app’s underlying AI model is widely seen as competitive with OpenAI and Meta Platforms Inc’s latest. Its claim that it cost much less to train and develop triggered share moves across Asia’s supply chain. Chinese tech firms linked to DeepSeek, such as Iflytek Co (科大訊飛), surged yesterday, while chipmaking tool makers like Advantest Corp slumped on the potential threat to demand for Nvidia Corp’s AI accelerators. US stock
The US Federal Reserve is expected to announce a pause in rate cuts on Wednesday, as policymakers look to continue tackling inflation under close and vocal scrutiny from US President Donald Trump. The Fed cut its key lending rate by a full percentage point in the final four months of last year and indicated it would move more cautiously going forward amid an uptick in inflation away from its long-term target of 2 percent. “I think they will do nothing, and I think they should do nothing,” Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis former president Jim Bullard said. “I think the
Cryptocurrencies gave a lukewarm reception to US President Donald Trump’s first policy moves on digital assets, notching small gains after he commissioned a report on regulation and a crypto reserve. Bitcoin has been broadly steady since Trump took office on Monday and was trading at about US$105,000 yesterday as some of the euphoria around a hoped-for revolution in cryptocurrency regulation ebbed. Smaller cryptocurrency ether has likewise had a fairly steady week, although was up 5 percent in the Asia day to US$3,420. Bitcoin had been one of the most spectacular “Trump trades” in financial markets, gaining 50 percent to break above US$100,000 and
RSS