From CNBC:

Meta beat earnings and revenue expectations and announced its first ever dividend payment. Daily active users were 2.11 billion, above the expected 2.08 billion, and revenue jumped 25% to $40.1 billion, with a net income of $14 billion reported. Meta plans to pay a dividend of 50 cents per share and has announced a $50 billion buyback.

Despite nearly tripling its stock in 2023 and hitting a record high earlier this year, Meta shares jumped 14% in afterhours trading. Meta’s Reality Labs passed $1 billion in sales this quarter, but also recorded $4.65 billion in losses. CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the sales team should expect to see a range in quarterly sales from $34.5 billion to $37 billion, with 2024 expenses expected to be between $94 to $99 billion.

After laying off 67,317 personnel, Meta reported better-than-expected earnings with fast-growing Chinese companies from areas such as e-commerce, entertainment and gaming accounting for an impressive percentage of revenue growth. Meanwhile, Meta’s expense in 2024 is $94B to $99B.

Zuckerberg expressed optimism about Meta’s growth in the future, emphasizing the company’s investment in AI and assured that despite growing business, there would not be a significant increase in headcount. The company has put a halt to more extensive hiring plans and will be intentionally “lean.”



Read more: Meta Q4 2023 earnings report