KUALA LUMPUR – Meta and Amazon outperformed expectations in their latest quarterly results as Big Tech continued to impress Wall Street.
In the quarterly results announced yesterday, Meta, the technology conglomerate overseeing Facebook and Instagram, revealed a profit of US$14 billion (RM66.2 billion) in the last quarter of the previous year, surpassing analyst forecasts, AFP reported.
The company experienced a notable surge in revenue, reaching US$40.1 billion for the same quarter.
The company also reported that Facebook’s monthly user base comprises 3.07 billion people after two decades since Mark Zuckerberg founded the platform in a Harvard dormitory.
“We had a good quarter as our community and business continue to grow,” Meta chief executive officer Zuckerberg said in an earnings release.
Meta shares jumped more than 14% to top US$445 in after-market trade.
A year ago, after a catastrophic 2022 for Meta, Zuckerberg promised a “year of efficiency”.
It was reported that, between unprecedented layoffs, doubts about the company’s embrace of virtual reality, and feuds with regulators, that year had not been an easy one for the social networking giant.
In late 2021, Facebook underwent a significant transformation, changing its parent company name to Meta.
This decision was attributed to Zuckerberg’s vision, which, though yet to be proven, revolves around the concept of virtual worlds known as the “metaverse”, anticipated to emerge as the next major computing platform.
Analyst Jasmine Enberg from Insider Intelligence said that the “year of efficiency” has yielded positive results, with both headcount and costs decreasing.
“Meta has surpassed our expectations for ad revenue in the full year 2023,” she said.
Further, Amazon also impressed investors with sales exceeding expectations, reaching a substantial US$170 billion in the last quarter of the previous year, following a record-breaking holiday season.
In its pursuit of efficiency, the company took measures to streamline operations, eliminating approximately 27,000 jobs – an action deemed necessary after years of continuous expansion.
Over the past 12 months, Amazon’s shares have experienced a notable 50% increase, attributable to both aggressive cost-cutting measures and a surge in sales.
Its CEO, Andy Jassy, said, “This Q4 marked a record-breaking holiday shopping season and concluded a robust 2023 for Amazon.”
The company reported that during its Black Friday and Cyber Monday holiday shopping events, more than one billion items were purchased globally.
Amazon also impressed investors with sales up to a more-than-expected US$170 billion in the last quarter of last year, after a record-beating holiday season.
Amazon said its employee count stood at 1.525 million at the end of 2023, down 1% from a year before.
Much like Meta, the company founded by Jeff Bezos is also expanding into AI, and on Tuesday, it said it was testing a chatbot named Rufus that would provide shopping tips to US mobile app customers.
“We’re building dozens of generative AI applications across the company,” Jassy said.
Like many tech titans, both Meta and Amazon are currently grappling with heightened regulatory scrutiny.
During a contentious hearing in the United States Congress last Wednesday, Zuckerberg was asked to give a public apology to the families of child victims of sexual exploitation on his platforms.
Meta is facing a major suit brought by about 40 US states jointly suing the company over alleged failures with children.
Meanwhile, Amazon is facing legal challenges from the top US antitrust regulator.
This regulatory body accuses the online retail giant of operating an illegal monopoly, asserting that Amazon engages in strong-arming independent sellers on its platform and actively stifles potential competitors.
It was also forced to abandon its buyout of the iRobot vacuum maker after the European Union’s antitrust authority objected to the plan over competition concerns. – February 2, 2024