Meta reports strong Q4 earnings, beating Wall Street projections with $48.39bn in revenue and $8.02 earnings per share. The company’s AI ambitions, including its Reality Labs division, are expected to drive growth in 2025.
Meta Posts Robust Fourth-Quarter Earnings Amid DeepSeek Mania
Mark Zuckerberg speaks in Menlo Park, California, last year.
Photograph: Manuel Orbegozo/Reuters
Meta reported earnings more than half an hour after market close on Wednesday. The company posted $48.39bn in fourth-quarter revenue and earnings per share of $8.02, handily beating Wall Street projections of $46.9bn and $6.75 in earnings-per-share.
Mark Zuckerberg is an American technology entrepreneur and philanthropist.
He was born on May 14, 1984, in 'White Plains' , New York.
Zuckerberg co-founded Facebook in 2004 while attending Harvard University.
The platform quickly gained popularity, and Facebook became a global social media phenomenon.
In addition to his work at Facebook, Zuckerberg has been involved in various philanthropic efforts through the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which he founded with his wife 'Priscilla Chan' .
He has also faced scrutiny over data privacy concerns and regulatory issues related to Facebook's business practices.
Meta’s AI Ambitions: A Big Year Ahead
Mark Zuckerberg tells analysts ‘this is going to be a really big year’ as the company sees quarterly revenues of $48.39bn. ‘We continue to make good progress on AI, glasses, and the future of social media,’ said Mark Zuckerberg, Meta founder and CEO. ‘I’m excited to see these efforts scale further in 2025.‘
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has been actively pursuing artificial intelligence (AI) research and development.
The company's AI ambitions include developing more sophisticated natural language processing (NLP), computer vision, and machine learning algorithms.
Meta's AI Lab is working on various projects, such as improving chatbots, enhancing content moderation, and creating more personalized user experiences.
According to a report, Meta has been investing heavily in AI research, with a focus on areas like transfer learning and multimodal processing.
The day before, an internal memo leaked that said Meta’s Reality Labs division, which oversees its Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses, had grown by nearly 40% and beaten all its sales and revenue targets.
Concerns Over DeepSeek’s AI Success
Analysts also expected AI to take a back seat to concerns over Zuckerberg‘s decision to get rid of third-party factchecking programs. However, Zuckerberg said people were interpreting the announcement as a sign that the company ‘didn’t care about adding context to things‘ or did not take misinformation on the platform seriously.
Meta’s Revenue Outlook for 2025
The company was not providing full-year revenue outlook for 2025 but expects ‘first-quarter total revenue to be in the range of $39.5-41.8bn,’ according to a press release. That projection is less than analysts were expecting for the first quarter, which analyst Debra Aho Williamson, founder and chief analyst of Sonata Insights, said was ‘concerning‘.
‘Meta’s solid revenue growth in the fourth quarter masks a looming problem,’ said Williamson. ‘Its revenue outlook for Q1 was lighter than Wall Street was expecting, and it is planning exorbitant capital expenditures for AI infrastructure in 2025. That adds up to a concerning situation.‘
Leadership Shake-Up at Reality Labs
In a significant move, Meta (formerly Facebook) announced a leadership shake-up within Reality Labs, its metaverse-focused division.
The changes aim to accelerate the development of virtual and augmented reality technologies.
Michael Abrash, former CTO of VR at Oculus, now leads AR/VR research.
Andrew Bosworth takes over as VP of Reality Labs, overseeing product development.
These appointments signal a renewed focus on advancing Meta's metaverse ambitions.
The company has committed $10 billion to the initiative, with plans to release several products in the next few years.
A leadership shake-up at Reality Labs had been reported. According to the Information, Reality Labs will be brought closer to the main business and be led by Meta’s chief operating officer, Javier Olivan. It is unclear if Reality Labs’ current COO, Dan Reed, would remain at the company.
- theguardian.com | Meta posts robust fourth quarter earnings amid DeepSeek mania
