SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 26 — US social media giant Meta Platforms, Inc. on Wednesday reported financial results for the third quarter ending Sept. 30, with a total quarterly revenue of US$34.15 billion, a 23 per cent increase year on year.
The company’s quarterly net income increased to US$11.58 billion, up 164 per cent from US$4.40 billion year on year. The diluted earnings per share for the quarter increased to US$4.39 from US$1.64 in the same period of 2022, said Meta based in Menlo Park, California.
Monthly active users increased 3 per cent year on year to 3.05 billion as of Sept. 30, while daily active users were 2.09 billion on average for September, an increase of 5 per cent.
Its cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities were US$61.12 billion as of Sept. 30. Free cash flow was US$13.64 billion in the third quarter of 2023, according to the company.
“We had a good quarter for our community and business,” said Meta founder and chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg. “I’m proud of the work our teams have done to advance AI and mixed reality with the launch of Quest 3, Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, and our AI studio.”
Beginning in 2022, the company initiated several measures to pursue greater efficiency and realign its business and strategic priorities. As of Sept. 30, 2023, it completed planned employee layoffs while continuing to assess facilities consolidation and data centre restructuring initiatives, according to Meta.
Meta expects fourth quarter 2023 total revenue to be in the range of US$36.5 billion to US$40 billion. “Our guidance assumes a foreign currency tailwind of approximately 2 per cent to year-over-year total revenue growth in the fourth quarter, based on current exchange rates,” the company said.
“We anticipate that our full-year 2023 total expenses will be in the range of US$87 billion to US$89 billion, lowered from our prior range of US$88 billion to US$91 billion. We expect Reality Labs operating losses to increase year-over-year in 2023,” it added.
— Bernama-Xinhua
