TechDigits

Tech news
Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Facebook owner Meta in first ever sales fall

Facebook owner Meta in first ever sales fall

The owner of Facebook and Instagram was hit by a fall in advertising sales in the three months to July which caused the first year-on-year revenue decline in the firm's history.

Meta's total revenue slipped 1% to $28.8bn (£23.7bn), but the company fended off a decline in users.

Analysts fear the company's growth may have peaked after years of large gains.

Rivals such as TikTok have eroded its popularity, while more firms are competing for ad spending.

Meta, which typically commands more than 20% of the global ad market, warned investors that ad sales were likely to fall again in the months ahead, as e-commerce spending falls from its pandemic boom and companies worried about inflation and the war in Ukraine spend more cautiously.

Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg said the firm would reduce its hiring "steadily" over the next year, a response to the downturn and the company's plans to shift investment into new areas, including its virtual reality platform, Horizon, in a bet that the so-called metaverse is its best prospect for growth.

Those plans have drawn scrutiny from regulators, including the Federal Trade Commission, America's consumer watchdog, which said it would sue to block Meta's acquisition of the virtual reality fitness company Within Unlimited, which owns the app Supernatural, over monopoly concerns.

Any payoff from those plans remains years away, with Meta's struggle to increase its users a sign of limited growth in the years ahead, said Angelo Zino, senior equity analyst at CFRA Research.

"Essentially it's now become a low-to no-growth company," he said.

Earlier this year, Facebook reported its first ever decline in daily users.

In response, the company, which also owns WhatsApp, recently shifted its algorithms on Instagram and Facebook to act more like TikTok, recommending posts to users from outside the base of accounts they follow.

The moves have drawn outcry from users, perhaps most prominently celebrity Kylie Jenner, who shared a post with her more than 360 million followers on Instagram this week saying "Make Instagram Instagram again. (stop trying to be Tiktok I just want to see cute photos of my friends.) Sincerely, everyone".

Kylie Jenner has criticised the changes Meta has made to try to compete with TikTok


But the changes may be helping.

In June, the company said 1.97 billion people logged into Facebook on average each day, up from 1.96 billion in March; and 2.88 billion into one of its apps daily, up from 2.87 billion in March.

Mr Zuckerberg said he was pleased by signs that people were spending more time on the firm's apps, but profits in the quarter still dropped 36% to $6.7bn.

He said the firm would continue to invest, though at a slower pace than planned.

"We face a number of challenges in the near term, but the investments we're making should give us...advantage over the long term," he added.


'Challenging conditions'


Meta, whose number two in command Sheryl Sandberg in June announced plans to leave the company, is not the only firm facing challenges.

Alphabet, the parent company of Google and YouTube, this week reported its slowest revenue growth since the pandemic hit in 2020, with executives repeatedly warning investors that the firm was feeling the impact of economic "uncertainty".

Twitter also reported an unusual fall in revenue, while Snap warned of "incredibly challenging" conditions after its weakest quarter ever, sending shares plunging 25%.

"When you look at the ad space right now...growth is deteriorating at a very fast pace, much faster than most people had anticipated," Mr Zino said.

Meta's reliance on small and medium-sized businesses - which are "spooked" about the economy - makes it particularly vulnerable to any market slowdown, said Nikhil Lai senior analyst for performance marketing at Forrester Research.

The company's fine-tuned model for targeting adverts was also disrupted last year when Apple overhauled its privacy settings.

Newsletter

Related Articles

TechDigits
0:00
0:00
Close
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The future of sports
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Poor Man With Money, Mark Zuckerberg, Unveils Twitter Replica with Heavy-Handed Censorship: A New Low in Innovation?
The Double-Edged Sword of AI: AI is linked to layoffs in industry that created it
US Sanctions on China's Chip Industry Backfire, Prompting Self-Inflicted Blowback
Meta Copy Twitter with New App, Threads
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Application Refiled, Naming Coinbase as ‘Surveillance-Sharing’ Partner
UK Crypto and Stablecoin Regulations Become Law as Royal Assent is Granted
A Delaware city wants to let businesses vote in its elections
Alef Aeronautics Achieves Historic Milestone with Flight Certification for World's First Flying Car
Google Blocked Access to Canadian News in Response to New Legislation
French Politicians Advocate for Pan-European Regulation on Social Media Influencers
Melinda French Gates Advocates for Increased Female Representation in AI to Prevent Bias
Snapchat+ gains 4 million paying subscribers in its first year
Apple Makes History as the First Public Company Valued at $3 Trillion
Elon Musk Implements Twitter Limits to Tackle Data Scraping, but Faces Criticism for Technical Misunderstanding
EU and UK's Slow Electric Vehicle Adoption Raises Questions About the Transition to Green Mobility
Top Companies Express Concerns Over Europe's Proposed AI Law, Citing Competitiveness and Investment Risks
Meta Unveils Insights on AI Usage in Facebook and Instagram, Amid Growing Calls for Transparency
Crypto Scams Against Seniors Soar by 78% in 2022, Experts Urge Vigilance
The End of an Era: National Geographic Dismisses Last of Its Staff Writers
Shield Your Wallet: The Perils of Wireless Credit Card Theft
Harvard Scientist Who Studies Honesty Accused Of Data Fraud, Put On Leave
Putting an End to the Subscription Snare: The Battle Against Unwitting Commitments
The Legal Perils of AI: Lawyer Faces Sanctions for Relying on Fictional Cases Generated by Chatbot
ChatGPT’s "Grandma Exploit": Ingenious Hack Exposes Loophole in AI, Generates Free Software Codes
The Disney Downturn: A Near Billion-Dollar Box Office Blow for the House of Mouse
A Digital Showdown: Canada Challenges Tech Giants with The Online News Act, Meta Strikes Back
Distress in the Depths: Submersible and Passengers Missing in Titanic Wreckage Expedition
Mark Zuckerberg stealing another idea: Twitter
European Union's AI Regulations Risk Self-Sabotage, Cautions smart and brave Venture Capitalist Joe Lonsdale
Nvidia GPUs are so hard to get that rich venture capitalists are buying them for the startups they invest in
Chinese car exports surge
Reddit Blackout: Thousands of Communities Protest "Ludicrous" Pricing Changes
Nvidia Joins Tech Giants as First Chipmaker to Reach $1 Trillion Valuation
AI ‘extinction’ should be same priority as nuclear war – experts
×