U.S. social networking giant Metathe owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, among others, announced a 41% plunge in profits in fiscal 2022, to $23.2 billion.
Despite the poor figures, published at the close of the session on Wall Street, the technology company soared 18 % in electronic trading in a first good reaction from investors, who had worse expectations, especially for the fourth quarter.
They had it coldly calculated
Goalwhich had previously warned of weak cumulative results, posted a slight decline in annual revenue, down 1% to 116,609 million, but was weighed down by a significant increase in costs, up 23% to 87,665 million.
The company announced 11,000 layoffs in November and booked a charge of 4.61 billion in the year, related to these “restructuring efforts”, which also include the cancellation of office and project leases.
Like other technology companies, it was affected by inflation, the weakness of the advertising market, the increase in competitors and the normalization of demand for digital entertainment, which increased dramatically after the outbreak of the pandemic.
Between October and December, the company earned 4,652 million (down 55%) and billed 32,165 million (down 4%), marking the third consecutive quarter with a decline in revenues, largely dependent on advertising.
Target indicated with respect to advertising that “impressions” (user views) increased across its suite of applications, but the average price per ad fell 22% in the last quarter and 16% for the year.
After suffering a stock market meltdown last year, with a 64 % capitalization cut, Target announced a $40 billion share repurchase plan, well above the amount invested in that concept in 2022.
Record figures
Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and top executive, noted that apps under the umbrella. Meta continue to attract users, driven in large part by their artificial intelligence technology and the “Reels” feature, for making short videos.
He further noted that. Facebook reached the milestone of 2 billion average active users in December, up 4% year-on-year.
Zuckerberg dubbed this fiscal year the “year of efficiency” and said his priority is to make the company “stronger and leaner,” warning in his forecasts for this year that he may “incur additional restructuring charges.”
Target said to expect first-quarter revenue between 26 billion and 28.5 billion, which could represent a return to growth, and for the full year it has revised down its previous expectations for costs and capital expenditures, which seems to have encouraged the market. EFE
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