Meta: Disappointing quarterly results

San Francisco, 5/1/2022

CEO Mark Zuckerberg says Meta will reduce the pace of its investments, presumably in areas such as the Metaverse, in light of slowing business growth.

In its recently released Q1 2022 results, Meta reported net income of $7.5 billion, down 21% year-over-year.

Revenue grew just 7% in the quarter, the slowest revenue growth since Meta went public in 2012.

In the last two quarters, Meta posted its first consecutive profit decline in more than a decade, due in part to increased competition in the social networking space and challenges in transitioning to the Metaverse.

The digital advertising business was also hurt by Apple Inc.’s ad tracking policy changes, which limit Meta’s ability to target advertising.

In the first quarter, Meta reported earnings per share of $2.72, above the $2.56 expected by analysts.

Across its platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, Meta’s daily active users rose to 2.87 billion, up slightly from 2.82 billion.