Meta, formerly known as Facebook, has released its quarterly financial report, showing growth in almost all areas except for its virtual and augmented reality division. The user base remains strong, with 3.07 billion daily active users across all Meta divisions, a 7% increase from the same period last year. Monthly users also grew by 6%, reaching 3.88 billion.
Facebook, a key division of Meta, saw an increase of 6% in daily active users, reaching 2.06 billion, and monthly active users reached 3.03 billion with a 3% growth. Ad impressions across all Meta divisions rose by 34%, but the average ad price decreased by 16%.
Revenues for the quarter totaled $32.0 billion, representing an 11% increase and a 12% increase year-over-year on a constant currency basis. However, costs and expenses also rose by 10% from last year, including accrued legal expenses and restructuring charges. Investment expenses, including principal payments on finance leases, amounted to $6.35 billion.
The company continued its share repurchases, investing $793 million in Class A common stock, with $40.91 billion available for further repurchases. Meta reported a strong cash position, holding $53.45 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities. The free cash flow for the quarter reached $10.96 billion, highlighting the company’s financial stability.
However, headcount reduced by 14% from the previous year, with 71,469 employees currently. Some of the reduction is attributed to layoffs made in 2023. Despite the overall growth in users, Facebook faced a decrease in audience in the last quarter of 2021, but the addition of Reels, a short video service similar to TikTok and YouTube Shorts, contributed to the recent growth.
Meta Reality Labs, the division responsible for virtual and augmented reality devices, faced challenges, recording an operating loss of $3.7 billion in the reporting quarter. This reflects a decrease from the previous quarter’s loss of $3.99 billion, but cumulatively, Reality Labs has suffered losses of $21.3 billion since the beginning of 2022.
Mark Zuckerberg, the head of Meta, expressed optimism about Reels and the development of the new social platform, Threads. However, the performance of the Reality Labs division remains concerning, as it continues to face significant losses.
Overall, Meta’s financial report indicates promising growth in its user base and revenues, but the struggling Reality Labs division poses a challenge for the company. As the tech giant moves forward, it will need to address the division’s setbacks while capitalizing on the success of its other services to maintain its position as a dominant force in the industry.