In December, there were two billion daily Facebook users, or around one-fourth of the world’s total population. A Quarter of the world used Facebook daily in December.
The firm has been under pressure as prices climb and ad sales decline, but the larger-than-expected growth helped fuel new hope.
After-hours trading saw a more than 15% increase in Facebook‘s parent company Meta’s shares as CEO Mark Zuckerberg proclaimed 2023 to be the “year of efficiencies.”
Zuckerberg stated his attention was on cost savings.
He cited the company’s revenue, which fell in 2022 for the first time in its existence after years of double-digit growth, as evidence that “we’re in a new climate now.
“We don’t expect it to persist, but I also really do not think it will return to how it was previously. A Quarter of the world used Facebook daily in December.
Last year, Meta, which also runs Instagram and WhatsApp, announced an extensive reorganization that included downsizing its office space as well as eliminating 11,000 positions, or around 13% of its workforce.
The company stated that those actions cost it $4.6 billion last year, which negatively impacted its earnings, which were nearly reduced in half.
It nevertheless generated a $23.2 billion profit for the year.
Although 2022 was difficult, Mr. Zuckerberg remarked, “I believe we closed the year having made substantial progress.
The company reported $32.2bn in earnings for the three months ending in December, a 4% year-over-year decline. Facebook was used daily in December by a quarter of the world’s population.
However, it was a better outcome than many experts had predicted.
When Meta reported the first-ever loss in daily Facebook users in its existence and made it clear it was concentrating efforts on virtual reality, often known as the metaverse, it frightened shareholders last year.
However, in December, there were 4% more daily users on the platform than there had been a year earlier, including people from the EU, the US, as well as Canada.
According to Meta, the daily active user count for all of its apps increased by 5% from the previous year. A quarter of the world’s population used Facebook daily in December.
Reels, the company’s video offering on which it has been concentrating as it competes with rivals like TikTok, which also has gained prominence, especially among younger users, according to Mr. Zuckerberg, is progressing, he added.
According to Mr. Zuckerberg, such initiatives were beginning to pay off as advertisers began to direct their budgets toward the videos.
Shares increased as a result of investors seizing on the company’s estimate of reduced expenses and bigger sales than anticipated in the next months.
The firm also announced that it would invest an additional $40 billion to repurchase shares, which fell precipitously last year as a result of investor skepticism about the company’s future.
