| 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. |
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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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| To: Julius Wong who wrote (3776) | 4/25/2024 1:14:31 PM | | From: Johnny Canuck | | | | I think what is worrying trader is the burn rate associate with the Metaverse. It is essentially a technology no one is demanding right now and they are spending billions a Q on it.
For most people it is old news. When is the last time you heard anyone talk about it except Meta. |
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| To: Thomas M. who wrote (3747) | 7/31/2024 9:17:54 PM | | From: Thomas M. | | | | Google & Meta function as extensions of the US Intelligence Community. With Jacqueline Lopour, Google's Head of Trust & Safety, and Aaron Berman, Meta's Head of Elections Content/Misinformation Policy, both being career CIA officers, it underscores the CIA's substantial control over online censorship.
Why is this CIA-Big Tech revolving door, where career CIA officers wield power to censor & decide what misinformation is, purposefully suppressed in the broader conversation about censorship?
Why are career CIA officers like Jacqueline Lopour & Nick Rossmann, who both have a history of spreading misinformation & promoting the RussiaGate conspiracy theory, now in senior roles in Trust & Safety at Google, deciding what is misinformation & overseeing content moderation?
The cumulative number of former Intelligence Community personnel hired by Meta & Google since 2018 is staggering. Before 2018, there were only a handful. Here are the combined hires by both companies:
CIA-36
FBI-68
NSA-44
DHS/CISA-68
State Dept-86
DOD-121
x.com
threadreaderapp.com
Tom |
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