Meta returns to growth after struggling with falling sales

The owner of Facebook and Instagram reported a 3% increase in revenue in the last quarter, even as expenses increased and profits were declining.
The debate over whether Meta is in decline may die down, at least for now.
After three consecutive quarters of declining revenue, Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, announced on Wednesday that first-quarter revenue jumped 3% from a year earlier, to reach $28.6 billion. Profits fell 24% to $5.7 billion, partly due to restructuring charges.
The results, which beat Wall's expectations Street and Meta's own forecasts, were supported by user growth. . The company added 37 million daily users to Facebook, its flagship app, up 4% from a year earlier and a turnaround from the first-ever drop in users it reported at the start of 2022.
"We had a good quarter and our community continues to grow," Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, said in a statement. He added that the business is "becoming more efficient so we can build better products faster and put ourselves in a stronger position to deliver on our long-term vision."
The performance comes amid a tumultuous year for Meta, which is trying to reorganize after experiencing declining revenue and what Mr. Zuckerberg called an overstretched workforce.
He moved the company to the so-called immersive world of the metaverse, an untested market. Meta also faces fierce competition from adversaries such as TikTok, which is starving social media companies of ad money, and Apple, which has screwed up Facebook's ad tech with updates. iOS Software Privacy Policy.
These challenges, after years of unbridled growth, have raised questions about the future of Meta and its vulnerabilities.
On Wednesday, Zuckerberg said on an earnings call that he has no plans to give up on his pursuit of the Metaverse and that remains a goal to follow. term.
In an attempt to turn around, he instead embarked on what he calls an "efficiency year" and curbed spending and cut the ranks of employees more than 21,000, or about 30%. Meta's stock price, which is up more than 12% in after-hours trading, has jumped 63% since the company announced a first round of 11,000 layoffs in November.

Meta announced 10,000 additional layoffs in March. The company said Wednesday it will incur approximately $1 billion in severance and related personnel costs from the cuts.
"When we started this work last year, our business wasn't performing as well as I wanted it to be," Zuckerberg said on the call with investors. He added that he continues to " believing that slowing hiring, flattening our management structure" would improve the speed and quality of Meta's work.
But these moves also hurt employee morale. Workers wonder if they will be part of the layoffs.Mr Zuckerberg said he was trying to weed out 'managers managing managers', the result of a glut of middle managers driven by overzealous hiring in an era of the pandemic.
The company said it had 77,114 employees as of March 31, down 1% from a year earlier.
Despite the latest results, Meta challenges remain. The company's first-quarter costs jumped 10 percent...

Technology Apr 28, 2023 0 19 Add to Reading List

Meta returns to growth after struggling with falling sales

The owner of Facebook and Instagram reported a 3% increase in revenue in the last quarter, even as expenses increased and profits were declining.

The debate over whether Meta is in decline may die down, at least for now.

After three consecutive quarters of declining revenue, Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, announced on Wednesday that first-quarter revenue jumped 3% from a year earlier, to reach $28.6 billion. Profits fell 24% to $5.7 billion, partly due to restructuring charges.

The results, which beat Wall's expectations Street and Meta's own forecasts, were supported by user growth. . The company added 37 million daily users to Facebook, its flagship app, up 4% from a year earlier and a turnaround from the first-ever drop in users it reported at the start of 2022.

"We had a good quarter and our community continues to grow," Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, said in a statement. He added that the business is "becoming more efficient so we can build better products faster and put ourselves in a stronger position to deliver on our long-term vision."

The performance comes amid a tumultuous year for Meta, which is trying to reorganize after experiencing declining revenue and what Mr. Zuckerberg called an overstretched workforce.

He moved the company to the so-called immersive world of the metaverse, an untested market. Meta also faces fierce competition from adversaries such as TikTok, which is starving social media companies of ad money, and Apple, which has screwed up Facebook's ad tech with updates. iOS Software Privacy Policy.

These challenges, after years of unbridled growth, have raised questions about the future of Meta and its vulnerabilities.

On Wednesday, Zuckerberg said on an earnings call that he has no plans to give up on his pursuit of the Metaverse and that remains a goal to follow. term.

In an attempt to turn around, he instead embarked on what he calls an "efficiency year" and curbed spending and cut the ranks of employees more than 21,000, or about 30%. Meta's stock price, which is up more than 12% in after-hours trading, has jumped 63% since the company announced a first round of 11,000 layoffs in November.

Meta announced 10,000 additional layoffs in March. The company said Wednesday it will incur approximately $1 billion in severance and related personnel costs from the cuts.

"When we started this work last year, our business wasn't performing as well as I wanted it to be," Zuckerberg said on the call with investors. He added that he continues to " believing that slowing hiring, flattening our management structure" would improve the speed and quality of Meta's work.

But these moves also hurt employee morale. Workers wonder if they will be part of the layoffs.Mr Zuckerberg said he was trying to weed out 'managers managing managers', the result of a glut of middle managers driven by overzealous hiring in an era of the pandemic.

The company said it had 77,114 employees as of March 31, down 1% from a year earlier.

Despite the latest results, Meta challenges remain. The company's first-quarter costs jumped 10 percent...