Meta Platforms Inc. posted stronger-than-expected third-quarter results on Wednesday fueled by its advertising revenue growth and its push to incorporate artificial intelligence.
But the Instagram and Facebook parent company warned that it expects a “significant acceleration” in infrastructure spending next year as it continues to pour money into developing AI.
Nearly all of Meta's revenue comes from advertising on its platforms, so a slight shortfall in user numbers also put a dent in an otherwise strong quarter. Meta said it's “family daily active people” — that is the number of users who signed into at least one of its apps (Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, WhatApp and Threads) in a day — was 3.29 billion on average for September. Analysts had expected 3.31 billion.
“The miss in its user metric, daily active people, is concerning, as Meta will need to squeeze more revenue out of its existing users as growth slows," said Emarketer analyst Jasmine Enberg. She added, though, that the company is in a good position to do so “as its AI-powered tools are boosting engagement by helping show users more of what they like and making its ads, particularly on Reels, more effective.”
For the three months ended on Sept. 30, the Menlo Park, California-based company earned $15.69 billion, or $6.03 per share, up 35% from $11.58 billion, or $4.39 per share, in the same period a year earlier.
Revenue rose 19% to $40.59 billion from $34.15 billion.
Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of $5.22 per share on revenue of $40.21 billion, according to FactSet Research.
“We had a good quarter driven by AI progress across our apps and business,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement. “We also have strong momentum with Meta AI, Llama adoption, and AI-powered glasses.”
For the current quarter, Meta is forecasting revenue of $45 billion to $48 billion. Analysts are expecting $46.18 billion.
“Meta’s solid quarter adds further evidence to the view that digital advertisers are choosing to spend their budget on the so-called market leaders, such as Facebook and Instagram, at the expense of the smaller social media networks, like Snap," said Investing.com analyst Jesse Cohen.
Cohen added that while AI is “clearly driving growth” at Meta, "investors appear to be disappointed over the company’s forward guidance and rising costs needed to develop AI features.”
Meta said it expects 2024 operating losses at its Reality Labs segment — which includes its virtual- and augmented-reality glasses — will “increase meaningfully” due to product development costs and other investments. Last Month, Meta teased a prototype for Orion, the holographic augmented reality glasses it's been working on for a decade. But Orion doesn't have a release date yet, in large part because it is currently so expensive to make. Zuckerberg called it a “glimpse of the future.”
Meta's shares slipped about 3% in after-market trading following the earnings report.
FILE - Mark Zuckerberg wears a pair of Orion AR glasses during the Meta Connect conference on Sept. 25, 2024, in Menlo Park, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez, File)
President Donald Trump remained defiant Monday as global markets continued plunging after his tariff announcement last week.
Trump has insisted his tariffs are necessary to rebalance global trade and rebuild domestic manufacturing. He's singled out China as “the biggest abuser of them all” and criticized Beijing for increasing its own tariffs in retaliation.
Here's the latest:
Wilmer Escaray left Venezuela in 2007 and enrolled at Miami Dade College, opening his first restaurant six years later.
Today, he has a dozen businesses that hire Venezuelan migrants like he once was, workers who are now terrified by what could be the end of their legal shield from deportation.
Since the start of February, the Trump administration has ended two federal programs that together allowed more 700,000 Venezuelans to live and work legally in the U.S. along with hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans.
In the largest Venezuelan community in the United States, people dread what could face them if lawsuits that aim to stop the government fail. It’s all anyone discusses in “Little Venezuela” or “Doralzuela,” a city of 80,000 people surrounded by Miami sprawl, freeways and the Florida Everglades.
▶ Read more about fears in Miami’s ‘Little Venezuela’
The Monday meeting will make Netanyahu the first foreign leader to visit Trump since he unleashed tariffs on countries around the world.
Whether Netanyahu’s visit succeeds in bringing down or eliminating Israel’s tariffs remains to be seen, but how it plays out could set the stage for how other world leaders try to address the new tariffs.
Netanyahu’s office has put the focus of his hastily organized Washington visit on the tariffs, while stressing that the two leaders will discuss major geopolitical issues including the war in Gaza, tensions with Iran, Israel-Turkey ties and the International Criminal Court, which issued an arrest warrant against the Israeli leader last year. Trump in February signed an executive order imposing sanctions on the ICC over its investigations of Israel.
▶ Read more about Trump’s meeting with Netanyahu
The stock market briefly spiked on a report that Kevin Hassett, a top White House economic adviser, said the president was considering a 90-day pause on tariffs.
The supposed remark from Hassett circulated on social media, but no one could pinpoint where it came from even as the market flashed from red to green.
Hassett had spoken to Fox News earlier in the morning, when he was asked about a potential pause. However, he was noncommittal.
“I think the president is going to decide what the president is going to decide,” he said.
▶ Read more updates on the financial markets
Vance’s mother, Beverly Aikins’ on Friday received a 10-year sobriety medallion in the Roosevelt Room at a ceremony with friends and family.
Vance described Aikins’ past drug addiction in his bestselling book “Hillbilly Elegy.”
The cases are likely headed to a Supreme Court showdown on the president’s power over independent agencies.
A divided U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued the ruling in the lawsuits separately brought by Merit Systems Protection Board member Cathy Harris and National Labor Relations Board member Gwynne Wilcox.
The ruling reverses, at least for now, a judgement from a three-judge panel from the same appellate court.
▶ Read more about Trump and the board members
The dispute over tariffs has caused some fracturing within Trump’s political coalition.
Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman said the president was “launching a global economic war against the whole world at once” and urged him to “call a time out.”
“We are heading for a self-induced, economic nuclear winter,” he wrote on X on Sunday.
Top White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett told Fox News on Monday morning that Ackman should “ease off the rhetoric a little bit.”
Hassett said critics were exaggerating the impact of trade disputes and talk of an “economic nuclear winter” was “completely irresponsible rhetoric.”
The president showed no interest in changing course despite turmoil in global markets.
He said other countries had been “taking advantage of the Good OL’ USA” on international trade.
“Our past ‘leaders’ are to blame for allowing this, and so much else, to happen to our Country,” he wrote on Truth Social. “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Trump criticized China for increasing its own tariffs and “not acknowledging my warning for abusing countries not to retaliate.”
On a day when stock markets around the world dropped precipitously, Alabama Republican Party Chairman John Wahl led a celebration of the president whose global tariffs sparked the sell-off.
With no mention of the Wall Street roller coaster and global economic uncertainty, Wahl declared his state GOP’s “Trump Victory Dinner” — and the broader national moment — a triumph. And for anyone who rejects Trump, his agenda and the “America First” army that backs it all, Wahl had an offer: “The Alabama Republican Party will buy them a plane ticket to any country in the world they want to go to.”
Wahl’s audience — an assembly of lobbyists and donors, state lawmakers, local party officials and grassroots activists — laughed, applauded and sometimes roared throughout last week’s gala in downtown Birmingham.
Yet beyond the cheerleading, there were signs of a more cautious optimism and some worried whispers over Trump’s sweeping tariffs, the particulars of his deportation policy and the aggressive slashing by his Department of Government Efficiency.
▶ Read more about Trump’s support in Alabama
This morning, at 11 a.m., World Series Champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers, will visit the White House and meet the president. Later, at 1 p.m., Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit the White House and meet with Trump. At 2 p.m., Netanyahu and Trump will participate in a Bilateral Meeting in the Oval Office. At 2:30 p.m., they will hold a joint news conference.
Trump said Sunday that he won’t back down on his sweeping tariffs on imports from most of the world unless countries even out their trade with the U.S.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said he didn’t want global markets to fall, but also that he wasn’t concerned about the massive sell-off either, adding, “sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something.”
His comments came as global financial markets appeared on track to continue sharp declines once trading resumes Monday, and after Trump’s aides sought to soothe market concerns by saying more than 50 nations had reached out about launching negotiations to lift the tariffs.
The higher rates are set to be collected beginning Wednesday. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said unfair trade practices are not “the kind of thing you can negotiate away in days or weeks.” The United States, he said, must see “what the countries offer and whether it’s believable.”
▶ Read more about the global impact of Trump’s tariffs
Pedestrian are reflected on a brokerage house's window as an electronic board displays shares trading index, in Beijing, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Shipping containers are stored at Bensenville intermodal terminal in Franklin Park, Ill., Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
President Donald Trump arrives at the White House on Marine One, Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
