April 23, 2024

Financial Highlights Meta conference call

• Total Revenue: $36.5 billion, marking a 27% increase both on a reported and constant currency basis.
• Total Expenses: Increased by 6% to $22.6 billion.
  • Cost of revenue up 9%
  • R&D expenses up 6%
  • Marketing & Sales down 16%
  • G&A expenses up 20%
• Operating Income: $13.8 billion, representing a 38% operating margin.
• Net Income: $12.4 billion, or $4.71 per share.
• Capital Expenditures: Including principal payments on finance leases, were $6.7 billion.
• Employee Count: Ended the quarter with over 69,300 employees, a 3% increase from Q4.

Capital Management

• Stock Repurchase: $14.6 billion of Class A common stock.
• Dividends: Paid $1.3 billion.
• Cash and Marketable Securities: Ended the quarter with $58.1 billion.
• Debt: $18.4 billion.

User Engagement and Platform Growth

• Daily Active Users: Approximately 3.2 billion people use at least one of the company’s apps daily.
• Family of Apps Revenue: $36.0 billion, up 27%.
• AI-Driven Recommendations: AI powers over 50% of the content viewed on Instagram and 30% of Facebook feed posts.

Product and Service Updates

• Video Content: Continued focus with a new full-screen video player on Facebook integrating Reels, longer videos, and live content.
• Instagram: Reels account for 50% of the time spent on the app.
• Threads App: Over 150 million monthly active users.
• WhatsApp: Notable growth trend in the US market.

Strategic Initiatives and Future Investments

• AI and Advertising: Increasing use of AI to enhance ad relevance and performance, including new automation tools such as Advantage+ Shopping and Advantage+ App ads.
• Infrastructure: Significant future investments planned to support growth and efficiency, particularly in Meta AI and Reality Labs.
• Metaverse and AR: Long-term focus remains on developing AR glasses and expanding the metaverse.
• Efficiency: Emphasis on optimizing ad levels within organic engagement and enhancing marketing performance through AI.

Management Commentary

• CEO Mark Zuckerberg: Highlighted the growth in video content and AI-powered recommendations as key drivers of user engagement. Stressed the importance of efficiency and innovation in AI and future technologies like the metaverse and AR glasses.
• CFO Susan Li: Focused on the financial robustness, citing strong revenue growth and controlled expense increases. Discussed capital allocation aimed at enhancing core business offerings and seizing long-term opportunities in AI and Reality Labs.

This summary encapsulates Meta’s Q1 earnings call, emphasizing financial results, user engagement statistics, strategic priorities, and management’s outlook on growth and efficiency improvements.