SAN JOSE, California (Bernama-dpa) -- Shares in Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta Platforms fell by around 12 per cent in the US in after-hours trading on Wednesday after the tech giant released its outlook for the current quarter, reported dpa news.
Meta predicted a turnover of between US$36.5 billion and US$39 billion, the tech giant said in the outlook, released together with its first quarter results. Analysts had expected an average of US$38.4 billion.
The company is also preparing for higher costs this year while focussing more on artificial intelligence.
Meta is now forecasting total 2024 expenses to be in the range of US$96 billion to US$99 billion. The previous forecast was US$94 billion to US$99 billion.
First quarter results meanwhile exceeded expectations.
Meta's advertising business continued to run at full speed in the quarter. Revenue rose by 27 per cent year-on-year to US$36.4 billion. Net income more than doubled from US$5.7 billion in 2023 to around US$12.4 billion.
An average of 3.24 billion users accessed at least one of the Group's apps, which also include WhatsApp, every day in March, a 7 per cent increase year-over-year.
The business with the digital world Metaverse and virtual reality continues to generate heavy losses. The Reality Labs division posted operating losses of US$3.85 billion. In the same quarter of the previous year, it had posted an operating loss of just under US$4 billion.
-- BERNAMA-dpa
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