Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said the social media giant will make 2023 the “year of efficiency,” suggesting more job cuts are likely. Wall Street responded favorably News that the company will begin a $40 billion share buyback.
Meta’s share surged nearly 20% in pre-market trading on Thursday as Facebook’s parent company’s fourth-quarter earnings beat analyst estimates on Wednesday.
Zuckerberg said the company “may incur additional restructuring costs as it furthers its efficiency efforts,” which could total $1 billion this year. .
“We closed last year with some difficult layoffs,” Zuckerberg said. A further layer of jobs could still be cut, he added.
Meta said it spent about $3.7 billion last year on severance payments and canceling office leases.
in November, Meta lays off over 11,000 employees — or 13% of the company’s overall workforce. Zuckerberg has denounced aggressive hiring during the pandemic, when Meta’s business has boomed as people have been stuck at home, scrolling through their phones and computers, and glued to their social media.
But when the lockdown ends and people start going outside again, Revenue growth began to slow.
Meta’s stock has fallen about 70% last year. That’s because the company struggles to transition smoothly from the traditional bread-and-butter business model of ad-driven social media to the evolution of the metaverse.
“Our management theme for 2023 is The Year of Efficiency, with a focus on becoming a stronger, more agile organization.
Revenue for the quarter was $32.17 billion, down 4% year-over-year, beating expectations of $31.55 billion. The company also reported earnings per share he was $1.76. Meta expects first-quarter revenue to be between $26 billion and $28.5 billion, beating analyst expectations.
Meta ends 2022 with a 1% revenue decline from 2021.
Reality Labs, Meta’s virtual reality division responsible for developing Zuckerberg’s Metaverse vision, reported an operating loss $4.28 billion — beat analyst estimates of $4.36 billion.
The segment’s fourth quarter revenues of $727 million were above expectations of $715.1 million. Despite this, Reality Labs continues to be a loss for the company. In 2022, the segment’s operating loss totaled $13.72 billion.
Despite lower revenue, Meta continued to add users to its social media app. His daily active users on Facebook reached 2 billion for the first time, a year-on-year increase for him of 4%.
Facebook had 2.96 billion monthly active users at the end of the year. Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Messenger, which Meta calls “family” apps, had 3.74 billion monthly active users as of December 31st.
with post wire
