Facebook parent Meta sees advertising jump, tops Wall Street targets

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

advertising revenue, topping Wall Street financial targets for the second quarter and forecasting third-quarter revenue above market expectations. The results from Meta, Facebook's parent company, come a day after a strong performance from Alphabet's Google and make the case that consumers, and the advertisers eager to reach them, are spending despite broad economic concerns. Still, the company also forecast that expenses would rise in both 2023 and 2024, citing costs including legal fees and increased spending on infrastructure considered key to the tech sector's feverish AI race.

That spending comes after aggressive cost-cutting in other parts of the company, including safety teams and basic business functions. Meta shares were up 7.5% in after-hours trade. «We continue to see strong engagement across our apps and we have the most exciting roadmap I've seen in a while with Llama 2, Threads, Reels, new AI products in the pipeline, and the launch of Quest 3 this fall,» Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said.

Meta's second-quarter revenue grew 11% to $32 billion in the quarter ended June 30, compared with analysts' average estimate of $31.12 billion. Ad revenue rose 12% in the quarter, faster than growth at Google, where ad revenue rose 3%. Adjusted earnings per share of $2.98 topped Wall Street targets of $2.91, according to data from Refinitiv.

The social media giant has been climbing back from a bruising 2022, buoyed by hype around emerging AI technology and an austerity drive in which it has shed around 21,000 employees since last fall. The company's shares have more than doubled in value this year as a result. Advertisers are reinforcing those gains by pumping money into digital ads again after months of muted