In its latest report, Meta said its social network Facebook now has 2 billion daily active users, which means the company added 16 million users last quarter.
According to Engadget, while Facebook isn’t the first Meta-owned platform to hit 2 billion daily users (the previous position belonged to WhatsApp), it’s the service that brings in the biggest source of ad revenue for Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg’s company. This comes even as Meta has dramatically slashed its business in recent months, including laying off more than 11,000 jobs.
Reportedly, while Meta’s revenue fell last year, the $32.2 billion in revenue the company made in the fourth quarter of 2022 was still slightly better than expected, even if it fell 4%. compared to the previous year.
During a meeting with analysts, Mr. Zuckerberg suggested that Meta will continue to cut operations because it prioritizes efficiency. Specifically, the company will be more proactive in cutting back on projects that are inactive or may no longer be important. At the same time, the CEO said that artificial intelligence (AI) will be a top priority for Meta in the coming year.
“Creative AI is a hugely exciting new field with so many different applications. And based on the many studies we’ve received, Meta’s goal will be to be the leader in artificial intelligence. “, added Zuckerberg.
Meta’s financial statements show that the company continues to lose large amounts of money on its investments in the metaverse. Reality Labs, which oversees VR (virtual reality), AR (augmented reality) and metaverse projects, lost $4.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022 and nearly $14 billion for the full year. The company further confirmed that the Reality Labs division will lose even more money in 2023, though the company continues to make meaningful investments in this area to serve its longer-term goals.
Finally, despite the loss Reality Labs made on Meta last year, Zuckerberg said he believes the company is in the midst of a “quite rapid phase change” compared to previous years. “We can’t treat everything like it’s super-growth,” said the Facebook founder. “There will be some areas that we work on that will grow very quickly in the future.”