Meta Platforms increased its spending estimates for the year and sees second-quarter sales below Wall Street’s expectations, once again raising questions about whether its futuristic technological bets will eventually pay off for investors.
“It’s been a good start to the year,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s CEO, referring to the company’s AI efforts and “healthy growth across our apps.” The stock was up 39 per cent so far this year at market close and has been trading near all-time highs for the past month, in part reflecting excitement around AI.
In the previous quarter, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a $US50 billion stock buyback in addition to the company’s first-ever quarterly dividend, an effort to placate investors frustrated by the company’s aggressive spending on technologies that have yet to pay off. Zuckerberg has spent years ploughing money into efforts to build the so-called Metaverse, a virtual world where he hopes people will one day play and work.