Meta has reported a fall in revenue in its third-quarter results ending in September 2022.
Total revenue for the quarter was down 4% to AUD$42.67 billion (USD$27.7 billion) from last year’s $29 million.
Meta reported a net income of A$6.76 billion (USD $4.39 billion), down 53% YoY from A$10.28 billion ($6.68 billion) in the second quarter.
Despite a hit in financials, the tech giant’s user engagement has grown, reaching more than 3.7 billion people a month across its family of apps.
According to the platform, the Reels feature on Facebook and Instagram has more than 140 billion plays across the apps each day – a 50% increase from six months ago.
Mark Zuckerberg, Meta founder and CEO, said: “Our community continues to grow, and I’m pleased with the strong engagement we’re seeing driven by progress on our discovery engine and products like Reels.”
Metaverse version of Mark Zuckerberg
“While we face near-term challenges on revenue, the fundamentals are there for a return to stronger revenue growth. We’re approaching 2023 with a focus on prioritisation and efficiency that will help us navigate the current environment and emerge an even stronger company,” Zuckerberg added.
Sharing his thoughts on the fourth quarter projection, Meta’s chief financial officer David Wehner said: “We expect fourth quarter 2022 total revenue to be in the range of $30-32.5 billion.
“Our guidance assumes foreign currency will be an approximately 7% headwind to year-over-year total revenue growth in the fourth quarter, based on current exchange rates.
“To provide some context on the approach we are taking towards setting our 2023 budget, we are making significant changes across the board to operate more efficiently,” he said.
“We are holding some teams flat in terms of headcount, shrinking others and investing headcount growth only in our highest priorities.
“As a result, we expect headcount at the end of 2023 will be approximately in-line with third quarter 2022 levels,” Wehner added.