| From: Glenn Petersen | 11/22/2023 10:02:32 PM | | | | | | How Meta could benefit from the OpenAI shakeup
PUBLISHED WED, NOV 22 20235:15 PM EST
UPDATED 41 MIN AGO
Jonathan Vanian @IN/JONATHAN-VANIAN-B704432/
CNBC.com
KEY POINTS
- Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg may not have been directly involved with the drama surrounding Sam Altman’s tumultuous departure from and then triumphant return to OpenAI, but the social networking executive and his company could benefit the most.
- Meta could stand to benefit as it’s been heavily touting its Llama-branded family of generative AI software.
- And it could attract AI workers who want stability. Its AI research team is considered, with Alphabet’s DeepMind, one of the most esteemed groups in the tech industry.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg may not have been directly involved with the drama surrounding Sam Altman’s tumultuous departure from, then return to, OpenAI, but the social networking executive and his company could benefit from the ordeal.
There’s been much debate over the “winners” of the OpenAI executive saga, with some experts believing Microsoft and its CEO Satya Nadella proved victorious while the OpenAI board members who kicked off the debacle by firing Altman last Friday were the losers.
Microsoft, OpenAI’s largest financial backer, has been positioning the high-profile startup as a cornerstone cloud computing partner, promoting Altman and his team throughout the year at numerous events. It created a public association between itself and the high-flying maker of ChatGPT. But that backfired somewhat when critics questioned how the boardroom shenanigans could have escaped Nadella and his company’s watch.
Meanwhile, Meta and Zuckerberg had the luxury of watching the corporate circus from the sidelines. It could help Meta boost its open-source Llama AI initiatives, as some companies look to diversify away from relying on a single company’s large language model. And it may even help with recruiting.
Meta continues to invest heavily in the kinds of generative AI and related large language models that helped spawn OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Its AI research team is considered, with Alphabet’s DeepMind, one of the most esteemed groups in the tech industry.
Technologists looking to work in the private sector may find comfort in stability at Meta and its AI research lab following the seemingly near collapse of one of the industry’s leading AI startups.
As one user on Meta’s Twitter-like Threads service posted on Wednesday: “Everyone is saying MSFT is the big winner of [the] OpenAI fiasco. But I can easily see META being the big winner in the end.”
“If you’re an AI researcher and you’re going to work at big tech, it might as well be the company with the largest open source and public research presence,” the user said in the Threads post.
Yann LeCun, Meta’s AI chief, responded to the post with a curt “Yup.”
Then there are the potential business opportunities.
The OpenAI fiasco raised concerns among the startup’s customers and other corporate leaders about whether they should only rely on one kind of LLM as part of their AI business strategies . Multiple technologists told CNBC that the OpenAI ordeal jumpstarted a push from businesses to lessen their reliance on OpenAI’s GPT family of LLMs to incorporate others from startups like Anthropic and Cohere.
Meta could benefit if companies continue to seek multiple AI vendors, much like firms now rely on multiple cloud providers. The company has heavily touted its Llama-branded family of generative AI software, which is available for free via an open-source model. Llama is attractive because developers can access and customize the LLM to their specific needs without being tethered to a particular vendor.
The more developers access and improve Llama, the more Meta can potentially lower its overall operating and technology research costs, among other benefits.
Finally, despite Llama’s licensing concerns and other potential issues, more companies and developers may choose to build apps with Meta’s AI software without fear that the social networking giant could collapse in a matter of days.
How Meta could benefit from the OpenAI shakeup (cnbc.com) |
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| From: Glenn Petersen | 12/22/2023 8:56:26 PM | | | | | | Meta’s new Threads, a rival for X, is now Apple’s most downloaded app
Business Insider
December 22, 2023
Threads this week became the most popular app in Apple’s US app store, showing the X rival is gaining traction in the wake of Elon Musk’s chaotic takeover of Twitter.
The Threads app, a text-based social media platform from Meta that functions similarly to X, launched six months ago. After an immediate surge in popularity, which saw Threads break the record for an app to hit 150 million downloads, usage fell as the app lacked features and was relatively bare-bones. Over the ensuing weeks, the small team of 15 engineers that built the app on the back of Instagram’s tech tweaked and added to the platform, and users came back and seemed to stay. Then Threads launched a web version and on December 14, it opened up to the European Union.
That move seems to have pushed the platform this week to the top spot on Apple’s App Store. Although Threads was ranked in the top five in recent weeks, it moved to second place after opening to the EU, just behind Temu, a marketplace for discounted goods. On Wednesday it moved to first place and has remained there since. In the Google Play Store, Threads is the fifth most downloaded free app.
A year ago, Meta did not have an app in Apple’s top ten downloads, according to an archive of the company’s rankings. Today, Instagram is also in the top 10, and it and Facebook, Meta’s oldest platform, are growing faster than TikTok.
Over the last three months, users of Threads have steadily increased. Daily active users have grown 17% to just under 35 million people, and monthly active users are up 27% to just under 140 million people, according to Apptopia data. Total downloads since launch are 445 million, Apptopia shows.
Even before Threads became available to countries in the EU, the platform had shown some staying power. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said toward the end of October the platform had just under 100 million monthly active users, and he saw it getting to “a 1 billion-person conversation app that’s a bit more positive”. In mid-December, Apple, for the first time, released an end-of-year report on its top apps and games for 2023. Despite only launching in July, Threads was Apple’s fourth most-downloaded app for the entire year.
This contrasts with X, which Elon Musk purchased as Twitter a year ago and has dramatically morphed in his image.
Daily active users of X have fallen about 5% over the last three months, and monthly active users are down 1%, according to Apptopia data. Downloads remain at the lowest level in over a decade since Musk renamed the platform X, going against the value of the Twitter brand and the wishes of CEO Linda Yaccarino.
As Musk has seemingly delved deeper into extreme conservative political views, engaging and agreeing with racist and antisemitic tweets on X, essentially all major advertisers have fled, putting X’s existence at risk.
Musk has responded with public outbursts and anger. When asked about the advertiser exodus three weeks ago at the New York Times’s DealBook conference, the billionaire suggested he was being blackmailed and told advertisers to “go fuck yourself.” He also admitted that the loss of advertisers “is going to kill the company.”
Are you a Meta or X employee or someone with a tip or insight to share? Contact Kali Hays at khays@insider.com, on secure messaging app Signal at 949-280-0267. Reach out using a non-work device.
The post Meta’s new Threads, a rival for X, is now Apple’s most downloaded app appeared first on Business Insider.
Meta’s new Threads, a rival for X, is now Apple’s most downloaded app (dnyuz.com) |
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| From: Glenn Petersen | 1/22/2024 9:34:19 PM | | | | | | Meta stock bounces back, recovering its post-pandemic losses
Sara Fischer
Axios
January 22, 2024
Meta's stock reached an all-time high Friday, reversing the post-pandemic drubbing it took beginning in 2022.
Why it matters: The company's investments in artificial intelligence (AI) have not only helped its ad business recover from a volatile market, but have also convinced Wall Street that the firm is poised for future growth.Meta's stock reached an all-time high Friday, reversing the post-pandemic drubbing it took beginning in 2022.
Why it matters: The company's investments in artificial intelligence (AI) have not only helped its ad business recover from a volatile market, but have also convinced Wall Street that the firm is poised for future growth.
- That's become critical amid declining investor interest in mixed reality and the metaverse. Meta is still losing billions of dollars on investments in those products.
Details: On Thursday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg doubled down on his company's investments in AI, saying in an Instagram post that Meta's long-term vision is to build a "massive compute infrastructure" to support new AI products.
- He revealed that company has started training Llama 3, the next generation of its primary generative AI model, and reaffirmed the company's commitment to releasing its AI models via open source when possible, Axios' Ina Fried reported.
Between the lines: While big announcements around generative AI have proven helpful in boosting investor confidence, quieter AI-related investments Meta has made in its ad business have helped the company keep its massive revenue and profit engine from slowing down.
- The company's revenues hit an all-time high in the third quarter of last year, the latest to be publicly reported.
- Investments in AI have also helped Meta counter short-term headwinds from Apple's privacy changes.
The big picture: Meta's gains are especially notable considering how hard it's been for other ad-supported tech firms to regain their momentum since the market began to slow down in 2022.
- Shares in Snap Inc. and Pinterest are still down 80% and 59%, respectively, from their all-time highs in 2021.
Go deeper: For Meta, the big AI play is shoring up its ad business
Meta's stock has recovered its post-pandemic losses (axios.com) |
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| From: Harshu Vyas | 2/1/2024 5:18:56 PM | | | | | | $50b buyback and a dividend. Whoo - this tech party's only just getting started!
I bought shares in late '22 but sold for a cheap profit. Big mistake.
Question becomes, how do Meta maintain their moat and prevent regulation from hurting them?
At this valuation, I'm not all too interested but I can certainly admire the business. |
| | Meta Platforms, Inc. (Facebook) | Stock Discussion ForumsShare | RecommendKeepReplyMark as Last Read |
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| From: Glenn Petersen | 2/2/2024 5:18:08 AM | | | | | | Meta shares jump 14% after profit triples and company announces first-ever dividend
PUBLISHED THU, FEB 1 202412:00 PM EST
UPDATED THU, FEB 1 20246:23 PM EST
Jonathan Vanian @IN/JONATHAN-VANIAN-B704432/
CNBC.com
KEY POINTS
- Meta shares jumped on better-than-expected results and a first-ever dividend payment.
- The results show Meta’s online ad business continues to rebound from a brutal 2022.
- Sales in the fourth quarter jumped 25% year over year, while expenses decreased 8% year over year to $23.73 billion.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, Meta Platforms, in July 2021.
Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images News | Getty Images
---------------------------------
Meta beat on earnings and revenue in its fourth-quarter earnings report Thursday and announced its first-ever dividend payment. The stock soared 14% in extended trading.
Here are the key numbers:
- Earnings per share: $5.33 vs. $4.96 expected by LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv
- Revenue: $40.1 billion vs. $39.18 billion expected by LSEG
- Daily active users (DAUs): 2.11 billion vs. 2.08 billion expected, according to StreetAccount
- Monthly active users (MAUs): 3.07 billion vs. 3.06 billion expected, according to StreetAccount
- Average revenue per user (ARPU): $13.12 vs. $12.81 expected, according to StreetAccount
Revenue jumped 25% in the quarter from $32.2 billion a year earlier, the fastest rate of growth for any period since mid-2021, as the online ad market continued to rebound. Meanwhile, the company’s expenses decreased 8% year over year to $23.73 billion, and its operating margin more than doubled to 41%, a clear sign that cost-cutting measures are bolstering profitability.
Net income more than tripled to $14 billion, or $5.33 per share, from $4.65 billion, or $1.76 per share, a year earlier.
Meta said it will pay investors a dividend of 50 cents a share on March 26. That comes after cash and equivalents swelled to $65.4 billion at the end of 2023 from $40.7 billion a year earlier. The company also announced a $50 billion share buyback.
The after-hours market jump continues a rally from 2023, when the stock almost tripled. It hit a record in January and was up 12% this year prior to the earnings report. Based on its late-trading price, Meta’s market cap has swelled to almost $1.2 trillion.
Sales in Meta’s Reality Labs unit passed $1 billion in the quarter, though the virtual reality unit recorded $4.65 billion in losses.
“We had a good quarter as our community and business continue to grow,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement. “We’ve made a lot of progress on our vision for advancing AI and the metaverse.”
Meta said it expects first-quarter sales to be in the range of $34.5 billion to $37 billion. Analysts were expecting revenue of $33.8 billion. Expenses in 2024 will be in the range of $94 billion to $99 billion.
Meta said headcount was 67,317 as of Dec. 31, representing a 22% year-over-year decrease following layoffs.
Finance chief Susan Li said on the call with analysts that the biggest drivers of revenue growth came from companies in areas including e-commerce, entertainment and gaming.
Part of Meta’s financial recovery over the past year was driven by Chinese retailers, which have bolstered spending to reach users across the globe. Fast-growing upstarts Temu and Shein, which originated in China, have been pouring money into ads on Facebook and Instagram. Li said on Thursday that revenue from China-based advertisers accounted for 10% of sales for the year and 5 percentage points of growth.
Zuckerberg has said advances in artificial intelligence have helped bolster the ad business, which is growing faster than rival Google’s. In Alphabet’s earnings report Tuesday, the company said Google ad revenue increased 11% from a year earlier, slower expansion than analysts were expecting.
Meta’s report comes alongside results from Amazon and Apple and marks the end of earnings season for tech’s mega-cap companies. Amazon reported better-than-expected results, with its ad business showing continued growth, and Apple also exceeded estimates, reporting revenue growth for the first time in a year.
Zuckerberg said Meta will continue to invest in AI and in building up its computing infrastructure to handle bigger workloads. But that growth will come without much expansion in headcount. Zuckerberg said the company has a “big recruiting backlog,” because it’s still working through the organizational changes tied to last year’s layoffs and is adding people in areas that will see increased investment.
As far as the company’s ongoing hiring plans, Zuckerberg said additions will be “relatively minimal” because he wants to “keep things lean.”
Zuckerberg, along with the top executives of social media companies TikTok, X, Snap and Discord, faced tough questioning from lawmakers at a hearing Wednesday. Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee accused the Facebook founder of ignoring the severity of child exploitation on the company’s family of apps.
Parents attending the hearing lambasted Meta and other companies for what they allege are insufficient safety and design measures that have caused mental health issues for their children and, in some cases, even resulted in their deaths.
“I’m sorry for everything you’ve all gone through. It’s terrible,” Zuckerberg told the parents in an emotional scene on Capitol Hill. “No one should have to go through the things that your families have suffered.”
Meta Q4 2023 earnings report (cnbc.com) |
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| From: Glenn Petersen | 2/3/2024 5:53:19 AM | | | | | | Not specific to Meta; another social media IPO.
Reddit chooses New York Stock Exchange for long-stalled IPO
Nicholas Megaw in New York and Hannah Murphy in London
Financial Times
5 HOURS AGO
Social media platform Reddit has picked the New York Stock Exchange as the venue for its long-delayed stock market debut, according to two people familiar with the plans, a victory for the exchange in its long-running listings battle with rival Nasdaq.
The decision, ahead of an initial public offering that could take place as soon as next month, will be taken as the latest encouraging sign of life in the US IPO market after two years of limited activity.
San Francisco-based Reddit first lodged a confidential filing for an IPO with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in late 2021, but held off going public as tech stocks fell in the face of tough macroeconomic conditions and an advertising slump.
It would be the most high-profile tech group to list on Intercontinental Exchange’s NYSE since the height of the IPO market boom in 2020-21. Advertising software group Klaviyo was the only large software listing on NYSE last year, as Nasdaq lured chip designer Arm and delivery group Instacart.
Nasdaq has historically dominated the market for tech listings in particular, though NYSE has previously won large companies such as Uber and Spotify. Nasdaq’s dominance in tech has helped it pull ahead of its rival as the most popular venue for listings more broadly in recent years.
Reddit, once known as a bastion of free speech and criticised by experts for its light-touch approach to moderation, has been sought to develop its advertising offering and better police the more controversial corners of its forums to satisfy marketers.
One person close to the company said it is aiming to achieve an initial valuation of at least $5bn when it goes public. It was valued at $10bn in its most recent private fundraising in 2021, but private company valuations tumbled in the past two years as interest rates increased.
The US IPO market has had a shaky start to the new year. Fundraising volumes have risen, with about $3.5bn raised compared to just $500mn in the same period in 2023, according to Dealogic, but the two largest deals — sportswear maker Amer Sports and healthcare group BrightSpring — both struggled to build investor interest and priced below their target ranges.
NYSE and Reddit declined to comment.
Reddit chooses New York Stock Exchange for long-stalled IPO (ft.com) |
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| From: Julius Wong | 2/3/2024 7:39:49 AM | | | | | | Meta covers all bases in latest 10-K, including trial by combat
Feb. 02, 2024 4:27 PM ET
By: Brandon Evans, SA News Editor
8 Comments
 Drew Angerer/Getty Images News
In Meta's (NASDAQ: META) latest annual filing, the social network Goliath appears prepared to battle David.
"We currently depend on the continued services and performance of our key personnel, including Mark Zuckerberg," reads the 10-K. "Mr. Zuckerberg and certain other members of management participate in various high-risk activities, such as combat sports ... which carry the risk of serious injury and death.
If Mr. Zuckerberg were to become unavailable for any reason, there could be a material adverse impact on our operations."
Tesla ( TSLA) Chief Executive and owner of Facebook-rival X Elon Musk appeared ready to battle Zuckerberg in a UFC-style cage match last year after Musk repeatedly made fun of Facebook's competitor to X, Threads.
However, the match never happened. "I think we can all agree Elon isn't serious and it's time to move on," Zuckerberg posted last August. "Elon won't confirm a date, then says he needs surgery, and now asks to do a practice round in my backyard instead ... I'm going to focus on competing with people who take the sport seriously."
Regardless of the risks facing Meta and its executives, the stock ended the week on a tear, gaining 20.3% to finish at $474.99 on Friday. |
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| From: Glenn Petersen | 2/5/2024 6:25:06 AM | | | | | | OT to META.
Reddit chooses New York Stock Exchange for long-stalled IPO
Nicholas Megaw in New York and Hannah Murphy in London
Financial Times
5 HOURS AGO
Social media platform Reddit has picked the New York Stock Exchange as the venue for its long-delayed stock market debut, according to two people familiar with the plans, a victory for the exchange in its long-running listings battle with rival Nasdaq.
The decision, ahead of an initial public offering that could take place as soon as next month, will be taken as the latest encouraging sign of life in the US IPO market after two years of limited activity.
San Francisco-based Reddit first lodged a confidential filing for an IPO with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in late 2021, but held off going public as tech stocks fell in the face of tough macroeconomic conditions and an advertising slump.
It would be the most high-profile tech group to list on Intercontinental Exchange’s NYSE since the height of the IPO market boom in 2020-21. Advertising software group Klaviyo was the only large software listing on NYSE last year, as Nasdaq lured chip designer Arm and delivery group Instacart.
Nasdaq has historically dominated the market for tech listings in particular, though NYSE has previously won large companies such as Uber and Spotify. Nasdaq’s dominance in tech has helped it pull ahead of its rival as the most popular venue for listings more broadly in recent years.
Reddit, once known as a bastion of free speech and criticised by experts for its light-touch approach to moderation, has been sought to develop its advertising offering and better police the more controversial corners of its forums to satisfy marketers.
One person close to the company said it is aiming to achieve an initial valuation of at least $5bn when it goes public. It was valued at $10bn in its most recent private fundraising in 2021, but private company valuations tumbled in the past two years as interest rates increased.
The US IPO market has had a shaky start to the new year. Fundraising volumes have risen, with about $3.5bn raised compared to just $500mn in the same period in 2023, according to Dealogic, but the two largest deals — sportswear maker Amer Sports and healthcare group BrightSpring — both struggled to build investor interest and priced below their target ranges.
NYSE and Reddit declined to comment.
Reddit chooses New York Stock Exchange for long-stalled IPO (ft.com) |
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| To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (3774) | 3/5/2024 11:43:02 AM | | From: Kirk © | | | | I read all of Meta's platforms are down in many areas. I can't log into Facebook from my PC or phone. The article also said accounts on other sites that used the FB login, such as newspapers, won't work.
490,000 reported problems at downdetector
downdetector.com
Primary election here in California where perhaps too many Trump supporters clicking Biden ads to drain the advertising account, or vice versa?
downdetector.com
cnbc.com
With all that ad spending for today's CA primary, not a good time to be down. |
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