Meta powered through its second quarter of 2023 with $32 billion in revenue and $7.8 billion in net income. The results reported Wednesday capped off the first half of a year marked by over 20,000 layoffs and the recent release of the company’s Twitter competitor, Threads.
The Facebook parent’s second-quarter revenue represented an 11% year-over-year increase, while its net income for the quarter marked a 16% climb from the same period a year ago. Earnings per share hit $2.98 in the quarter, clocking in above Wall Street estimates of $2.87.
Daily active user numbers across its family of apps, which include Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, climbed to an average of 3.07 billion in June, up by 7% compared to last year. Those numbers don’t reflect usage of Threads, which launched in July after the end of the quarter.
“We had a good quarter,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Meta founder and CEO. “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.”
In the Q2 release’s outlook commentary, Meta anticipated Q3 2023 revenue would be between $32-34.5 billion. The company acknowledged that increasing regulatory and legal challenges in both the U.S. and E.U. could “significantly impact” its business and earnings going forward.
Meta noted that Mark Zuckerberg’s Threads profile (in addition to his Instagram account and Facebook page) was a source of material non-public information. In other words, investors should be reading Zuckerberg’s Threads posts.
META stock was up 6% in after-hours trading Wednesday following the second quarter earnings release.
It’s been a wild year for Meta. The company faced scandals, acclimated to a reduced workforce post-layoffs and worked on the launch of Threads, which took the world by storm for a brief window of time following its launch. The company also went toe-to-toe with California and Canada over legislation that would force it to negotiate with publishers for the use of news articles.
Meta also had to contend with a damning report highlighting how Instagram is unwittingly providing a home for pedophiles to disseminate, buy and sell content to each other. The company said it was assembling a task force to combat the issue.
Meta also is fresh off a wave of layoffs that eliminated over 20,000 jobs at the company. Most of Big Tech has recently engaged in layoffs, including Microsoft and Amazon, but the sheer scope of Meta’s cuts was notable even among its peers.
Threads, which launched early in July but was in development during the second quarter, racked up tens of millions of users almost instantly thanks to its close technical links to Instagram. Though it remains to be seen how the new app fares long-term, there’s no question its launch raised alarm bells at Twitter, its primary competitor.
Meta also faced off with legislators in California and Canada over bills that would require Facebook to pay publishers for news posted to its services. Meta said it wouldn’t play ball with such requirements, arguing that news organizations need Meta far more than it needs them.
