- Meta reported $56.31 billion in first quarter sales, up 33% annually, outpacing the $55.45 billion analysts projected.
- The tech company’s earnings excluding a tax credit would’ve been $7.31 a share, above analyst expectations of $6.66.
- The company remained focused on leveraging AI tools in the workforce amid impending 10% staff layoff
To creators, Meta’s first-quarter earnings conference call was music to their ears.
Susan Li, Meta’s chief financial officer of the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, unveiled that a new affiliate programs for creators. The new initiative which will first be implemented on Facebook then tested on Instagram, will allow creators to tag products and earn a commission when someone makes a purchase through their link.
It’s a long time coming for influencers and creators, who have used third-party companies to accomplish the same goal. Those include independent affiliate programs like ShopMy and LTK, which have allowed creators to make a commission since the pandemic. Each of the creator commerce companies are now valued at over a billion dollars ($1.5 and $6 billion, respectively) .
Now Meta is getting into it, and adding an AI spin.
“People discover products on our platforms through ads and organic posts, with brands increasingly turning to creators to promote their products,” Li said on the call. “We’re expanding our solutions beyond ads…We see a real opportunity to help people more easily discover and buy products within our services, particularly as we incorporate AI deeply across our platforms.”
Earnings soar
The comments come after Meta reported $56.31 billion in first quarter revenue, up 33% annually, outpacing the $55.45 billion analysts had projected. Net income for the tech company was $26.77 billion, up 61% year-over-year.
“We had a milestone quarter with strong momentum across our apps and the release of our first model from Meta Superintelligence Labs,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Meta founder and CEO. “We’re on track to deliver personal superintelligence to billions of people.”
Meta’s shares fell 5% in after-hours trading. The company reported earnings of $10.44 per share, but excluding the tax credit from Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the adjusted EPS was $7.31 a share, still above analyst expectations of $6.66.
The tech and media layoffs continue
Those results, however, won’t stop Meta from laying off 10% of its work force in less than a month to fund its expansive AI initiatives.
Meta’s total employment was 77,986 as of March 31, an increase of 1% year-over-year. This number does not take into account impending layoffs set for May.
The tech giant announced last week it would cut 10% of its staff as the company prioritizes AI initiatives to improve efficiency. The cuts will start May 20 and will affect roughly 8,000 workers in addition to the elimination of 6,000 open roles.
“We are seeing more and more examples where one or two people are building something in a week that would have previously taken dozens of people months,” Zuckerberg explained, regarding how Meta implements AI in the workplace. “We’re building the next evolution of our company around these people, and there’s a lot that we can do to enable this, building the best infrastructure for creating and delivering products at scale, streamlining our teams so they aren’t bigger than they need to be, recognizing and rewarding the people who are having outsized impacts.”
