BUSINESS
Meta’s digital ad revenue boost
April 27, 2023 - Meta Platforms Inc.’s advertising revenue has increased after nine months of negative growth that forced the social media giant to slash jobs and cut spending.
“A stronger financial position will enable us to weather a volatile environment while remaining focused on our longer-term priorities,” Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg told investors on a call Wednesday. “There’s an opportunity to introduce AI agents to billions of people in ways that will be useful and meaningful,” he added.
Over the last year, a slowdown in advertising demand forced the social media giant to slash its headcount by 11,000 in November and announce a further 10,000 job cuts last month.
Meta’s stock has climbed 135.5 per cent to $209.40 at the close on Wednesday, up from a low point of $88.91 in November.
First-quarter sales rose to $28.6 billion -- a return to growth after three straight quarters of declines.
Reality Labs, Meta’s division focused on building virtual reality technology for the metaverse, had an operating loss of $3.99 billion in the quarter and brought in revenue of $339 million -- down 51% from a year earlier.
Capital expenditures in the first quarter rose to $7.09 billion, compared to $5.55 billion in the same period last year. Zuckerberg said Meta wouldn’t have to spend much more on artificial intelligence. “We are no longer behind in building out our AI,” Zuckerberg said. “And to the contrary, we now have the capacity to do leading work in this space at scale.”