Meta

The federal government accused Meta of “trying to buy its way to the top” through its acquisitions.

The FTC, whose chair Lina Khan has been heavily critical of Meta and other tech giants’ power, has already sued Meta (then known as Facebook) in federal court for broader antitrust violations, arguing the company has engaged in “anticompetitive conduct and unfair methods of competition,” including by acquiring Instagram and WhatsApp. A federal judge initially dismissed the FTC’s challenge, finding the agency’s lawsuit was “legally insufficient” and “light on specific factual allegations.” The FTC then re-filed its complaint with more evidence, however, and the court has allowed the case to move forward, which could potentially result in Meta having to be broken up and WhatsApp and Instagram becoming separate companies again if the FTC succeeds. “The idea that this acquisition would lead to anticompetitive outcomes in a dynamic space with as much entry and growth as online and connected fitness is simply not credible,” Meta said in a statement. Meta’s second quarter earnings will be released later on Wednesday, and the company and Zuckerberg could address the FTC’s new legal challenge during its earnings call.

The lawsuit echoes issues progressive critics have said the FTC should have raised in Facebook's acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp roughly a decade ...

A Meta spokesperson said in a statement the case "is based on ideology and speculation, not evidence. When the monopolization case was first filed in 2020, Facebook's chief counsel said the FTC was looking for a "do-over" of its original reviews of the Instagram and WhatsApp mergers, which happened years earlier. Meta previously sought for that lawsuit to be dismissed, though it is still moving forward in a federal court after the judge allowed the FTC to revise its complaint. The progressive tech critic was sworn in as chair in June 2021 but the agency lacked a tie-breaking vote until May this year when President Joe Biden's final nominee to the commission was confirmed. "But Meta chose to buy market position instead of earning it on the merits. "Meta already owns a best-selling virtual reality fitness app, and it had the capabilities to compete even more closely with Within's popular Supernatural app," Newman said.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, reported its first-ever yearly decline in revenue as a public company. Its second-quarter earnings ...

“I think we’re going to come through this period as a stronger and more disciplined organization.” Meta reported that 2.88 billion now use its suite of social apps — Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp — every day, an increase of 4 percent from a year ago. On a call with analysts, Zuckerberg said that the percentage of content people see in Facebook and Instagram that comes from accounts they don’t follow will more than double next year.

The move is a potential blow to Meta's metaverse efforts and signals a shift in how the Federal Trade Commission is approaching tech deals.

A F.T.C. spokeswoman said the agency had not filed such a complaint and declined to comment further on the agency’s strategy. But Nikhil Shanbhag, an associate general counsel for Meta, said in the blog post that the games weren’t competitors. Ms. Khan, 33, who was appointed by President Biden last year to acclaim from the left, has tried to make good on expansive promises to rein in corporate power. Christine Wilson, a Republican commissioner at the agency, said she was one of the two votes against the lawsuit. He has also authorized the purchase of roughly half a dozen other virtual reality or gaming studios over the past three years. For Mr. Zuckerberg, the F.T.C. lawsuit is a setback. The F.T.C.’s lawsuit is part of a broader wave of actions against Meta and other large tech companies like Google, Apple and Amazon, which have increasingly faced scrutiny for their power and dominance. The F.T.C.’s lawsuit is highly unusual and pushes the boundaries of antitrust law. The Justice Department has also sued Google over whether the company abused a monopoly over online search. The F.T.C.’s request for an injunction puts Ms. Khan on a collision course with Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s chief executive, who is also named as a defendant in the request. Ms. Khan has argued that regulators must stop competition and consumer protection violations when it comes to the bleeding edge of technology, including virtual and augmented reality, and not just in areas where the companies have already become behemoths. He has poured billions of dollars into building products for virtual and augmented reality, betting that the immersive world of the metaverse is the next technology frontier.

Meta's second-quarter earnings report comes after a 50% plunge in the company's stock price this year.

Meta is promoting Susan Li, the company's current vice president of finance, to be CFO. Those costs jumped 10% year-over-year to $3.6 billion in the second quarter. A hefty amount of spending is going into Meta's Reality Labs unit, which is responsible for developing the metaverse and related virtual reality and augmented reality technologies. Earlier this week, Meta raised the price of its Quest 2 VR headset by $100, citing rising production and shipping costs. Meta said that its headcount increased 32% from a year earlier to 83,553. Revenue in the second quarter fell almost 1% from a year earlier. The earnings call was the last for Sheryl Sandberg, Meta's operating chief, who announced in June that she's leaving the company after 14 years. However, despite Facebook's investment in Reels, the product doesn't generate revenue as efficiently as Instagram Stories and the main news feed. "These continue to be turbulent times for the global economy," Sandberg said. Facebook's troubling results follow a trend started last week by rivals Snap and reported disappointing second-quarter numbers, and executives cited economic and mobile platform challenges that have permeated the online ad market. That unit has been hurt by Apple's iOS privacy update last year, limiting Meta's ability to track users, and by a weakening economy that's led some companies to slash their ad budgets. The shares dropped 3.8% in extended trading.

Facebook parent Meta saw its stock plunge in after-hours trading on Wednesday following second-quarter earnings results that came in below expectations, ...

Though most analysts remain bullish about the company’s long-term growth, some remain cautious about the company’s “ ability to sustain profits” amid a challenging environment in the short-term. The company noted it faced “weak advertising demand environment” throughout the second quarter, citing the “broader macroeconomic uncertainty” as a driving factor. Meta has lost roughly half of its market value this year, with the stock down 50%, amid the wider market selloff that has hit the tech sector especially hard.

Zuckerberg warns that 'economic downturn' will have 'broad impact' on digital ad spending in gloomy forecast.

US regulator's lawsuit is the first direct shot at a Big Tech deal under chair Lina Khan.

It was the first time the social media giant's revenue had fallen since it went public a decade ago, as it confronts increased regulatory scrutiny and a ...

On Tuesday, Meta’s Reality Labs hardware division, which makes virtual reality headsets and other products, said it would increase the price of its marquee V.R. headset, the Quest 2, by $100. “Meta is a company that has shown extraordinary resilience. Mr. Zuckerberg said he believed it was only a matter of time before Meta figured out how to better make money from Reels. His goal, he said, was to eventually make more money from Reels, which is not as lucrative for Instagram as the app’s other advertising formats. Investments in artificial intelligence recommendation algorithms have also driven more people to use the service and for longer periods, the company said. Sheryl Sandberg, Meta’s chief operating officer, also appeared on Wednesdays company earnings call, the last of her 14-year tenure. That exceeded analysts’ expectations that the company was losing visitors. Google, Twitter and Snap, which rely on online advertising, have also said this month that they experienced reduced demand for advertising because of the slowing global economy. The company attributed its most recent lackluster financial results to weaker demand for digital advertising and the broader economic uncertainty. Some investors are skeptical that the investments will pay off in the long term. On Wednesday, Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, reported a 1 percent decline in quarterly revenue from the previous year. “The situation seems worse than it did a quarter ago.”

Meta Platforms Inc issued a gloomy forecast after recording its first ever quarterly drop in revenue on Wednesday, with recession fears and competitive ...

Susan Li, Meta's current vice president of finance, will become CFO. For now, at least, the metaverse part of Meta's business remains largely theoretical. read more read more read more read more Meta said it expected a 6% revenue growth headwind in the third quarter, based on current exchange rates. The figure slightly missed Wall Street's projections of $28.9 billion, according to Refinitiv. Analysts were expecting $30.52 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Shares of several major U.S. companies tumbled in extended trade on Wednesday following poor quarterly results and forecasts that underscored fears about a ...

That compared to a loss of $133 million in the year-ago period. Some investors viewed comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell as signalling the Fed's fight to tame decades high inflation could be done by year-end. Advertisement

Meta Platforms Inc. issued a gloomy forecast after recording its first ever quarterly drop in revenue Wednesday, with recession fears and competitive ...

Meta said it expected a 6% revenue growth headwind in the third quarter, based on current exchange rates. For now, at least, the metaverse part of Meta's business remains largely theoretical. The figure slightly missed Wall Street's projections of $28.9 billion, according to Refinitiv. Susan Li, Meta's current vice president of finance, will become CFO. Analysts were expecting $30.52 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. The company said it expected third-quarter revenue to be in the range of $26 billion to $28.5 billion, which would be a second consecutive year-over-year drop.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg says Meta will slow hiring and tighten its budget. Soaring inflation, interest rate hikes and other economic woes have affected the ...

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This deal brings more competition and innovation to VR more generally. The FTC is wrong on the facts and the law. Today, the ...

In such a world, the FTC has no answer to the most basic question — how could Meta’s acquisition of a single fitness app in a dynamic space with many existing and future players possibly harm competition? Third, the FTC believes that just the possibility that we might eventually develop our own VR fitness app somehow keeps existing participants in check and is reason enough to block this deal. The FTC also insinuates that Meta is trying to buy VR apps in an effort to “control” the VR ecosystem. The FTC rests its arguments on a number of flawed premises and unsupported assumptions that do not stand up to scrutiny. Under US law, the FTC is required to prove that an acquisition would “substantially lessen competition” in order to successfully block a deal. By attacking this deal in a 3-2 vote, the FTC is sending a chilling message to anyone who wishes to innovate in VR. We are confident that our acquisition of Within will be good for people, developers and the VR space.

The substantial sum is the latest sign that CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Meta continues to spend heavily to win the so-called "metaverse."

Meta has also spent to acquire VR companies and startups that develop core headset technologies. Meta said earlier this week it will raise the price from $299 to $399. The substantial sum is the latest sign that CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Meta continues to spend heavily to pivot the social media giant to developing virtual reality and augmented reality products and the so-called "metaverse."

The US Federal Trade Commission sued to block Meta Platforms Inc. from acquiring virtual reality company Within Unlimited, saying the transaction would ...

Meta Platforms issued a gloomy forecast after recording its first-ever quarterly drop in revenue on Wednesday (Jul 27), with recession fears and competitive ...

Susan Li, Meta's current vice president of finance, will become CFO. For now, at least, the metaverse part of Meta's business remains largely theoretical. Meta said it expected a 6 per cent revenue growth headwind in the third quarter, based on current exchange rates. The figure slightly missed Wall Street's projections of US$28.9 billion, according to Refinitiv. Analysts were expecting US$30.52 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. Advertisement

Alphabet Inc, the world's largest digital ad platform, reported a rise in quarterly revenue, with sa.

Meta said it expected a 6 percent revenue growth headwind in the third quarter, based on current exchange rates. For now, at least, the metaverse part of Meta's business remains largely theoretical. The figure slightly missed Wall Street's projections of US$28.9 billion, according to Refinitiv. In the second quarter, Meta reported US$218 million in non-ad revenue, which includes payments fees and sales of devices like its Quest virtual reality headsets, down from US$497 million last year. Analysts were expecting US$30.52 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. The company is simultaneously carrying out several expensive overhauls as a result, revamping its core apps and boosting its ad targeting with AI, while also investing heavily in a longer-term bet on "metaverse" hardware and software.

Recession fears and competitive pressures are weighing on the digital ads sales of the social media giant.

Meta said it expected a 6 percent revenue growth headwind in the third quarter, based on current exchange rates. For now, at least, the metaverse part of Meta’s business remains largely theoretical. “The situation seems worse than it did a quarter ago.” Susan Li, Meta’s current vice president of finance, will become CFO. Analysts were expecting $30.52bn, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. The company said on Wednesday it expects third-quarter revenue to come in at $26bn to $28.5bn, which would make it a second year-over-year drop in a row.

Driving the news: The tech giant told investors Wednesday that it's planning to cut costs, slow investments and reduce head count as it braces for what CEO Mark ...

By the end of next year, that percentage is expected to double. Earlier this year, the Facebook app lost roughly 1 million daily active users — its first ever year-over-year user drop. - "This is a period that demands more intensity," he said. "I think we're in the pretty early days of doing that." It also starting testing new featureson Instagram that offer a similar experience. The big picture: Facebook's transition from a feed that connects friends to a "content discovery engine" marks the end of the social networking era, and in some ways, the end of Meta's unprecedented growth.

Shares of Meta fell 8% on Thursday, a day after the company released second quarter earnings that missed on the top and bottom lines.

"The Reels monetization ramp seems slow," UBS' Lloyd Walmsley said in a note to investors. Meta also issued a disappointing third-quarter forecast, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on a call with analysts that the company reduce headcount as it prepares for the economic slowdown. He added that the "economic downturn will have a broad impact on the digital advertising business," which has already been hit by Apple's privacy changes.

The social media company's Reality Labs segment, focused on augmented and virtual reality, notched a $2.8 billion loss in the latest quarter.

Wall Street had been expecting a per-share profit of $2.56 from revenue of $29 billion. Meta (ticker: META) reported a second-quarter per-share profit of $2.46 from revenue of $28.8 billion, which was down from $29.1 billion in the same quarter of 2021, representing the company’s first-ever quarterly decline in sales. reported second-quarter earnings late Wednesday that were dismal enough to add to the headwinds stocks were facing on Thursday. But the company’s large losses in one key segment—the metaverse—shouldn’t obscure that Wall Street remains upbeat on the company’s prospects in that high-growth business.

The company in its second-quarter earnings report said it anticipates lower than predicted revenue of $26bn to $28.5bn.

But scaling the metaverse has been an uphill battle, as Meta sinks billions into the project. “Obviously, there is a cannibalistic impact, but the net impact is positive.” Zuckerberg repeatedly stressed the massive impact of Apple’s 2021 change to its operating system. Meta shares fell nearly 5% in after hours trading following the rare backslide. The company has attempted to stop young users from fleeing its platforms by bolstering its short-form video content. It also follows difficult earnings from other tech firms including Snap, Twitter and Netflix, as fears of a recession grow.

Meta Platforms also said Susan Li, vice president of finance, will succeed David Wehner as CFO. Photo: Onur Dogman/Zuma Press. By. Kristin Broughton. July 28, 2022 3 ...

The company, which is facing increasing competition from ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok, is among several tech giants that are slowing hiring as lofty inflation and an uncertain economic outlook contribute to a cool-down in the industry. That strategy has likely become harder amid antitrust scrutiny in Washington. The Federal Trade Commission said on Wednesday it is seeking to block Meta from acquiring Within Unlimited Inc. and its virtual-reality dedicated fitness app, Supernatural. Mr. Walmsley pointed to Alphabet Inc.’s finance chief Ruth Porat as an example: Ms. Porat had been CFO for five years at Morgan Stanley before taking her current position in 2015. A more well-trodden path for finance chiefs is to take on the mantle of chief operating officer. She joined the company in 2008 and served in its finance division during its 2012 initial public offering. Mr. Carter said his firm has tried to recruit her multiple times over the past few years. But over the past year, companies have added titles such as president and COO to top-performing CFOs’ remits i n an effort to retain them in a red-hot job market. Susan Li, the company’s vice president of finance since 2016, will succeed him. On Wednesday, Meta posted its first quarterly decline in revenue from a year earlier as it grapples with a slowdown in advertising spending, which accounts for the bulk of its revenue. By creating a new role for Mr. Wehner, Meta is facilitating a transition for Ms. Li, whom recruiters described as a rising star in corporate finance, and someone who has been on the shortlist for top finance jobs outside Meta. In her current role, Ms. Li oversees financial planning, forecasting and budgeting. It is rare for CFOs to move up to chief strategy officer, though the role is a natural segue given the variety of topics CFOs handle daily, such as deal making and other tasks that extend beyond managing the balance sheet, corporate recruiters said. The social media giant promoted CFO David Wehner to chief strategy officer, a rare title for former finance chiefs, according to recruiters

The social media giant promoted CFO David Wehner to chief strategy officer, a rare title for former finance chiefs, according to recruiters.

The company, which is facing increasing competition from ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok, is among several tech giants that are slowing hiring as lofty inflation and an uncertain economic outlook contribute to a cool-down in the industry. That strategy has likely become harder amid antitrust scrutiny in Washington. The Federal Trade Commission said on Wednesday it is seeking to block Meta from acquiring Within Unlimited Inc. and its virtual-reality dedicated fitness app, Supernatural. Mr. Walmsley pointed to Alphabet Inc.’s finance chief Ruth Porat as an example: Ms. Porat had been CFO for five years at Morgan Stanley before taking her current position in 2015. A more well-trodden path for finance chiefs is to take on the mantle of chief operating officer. She joined the company in 2008 and served in its finance division during its 2012 initial public offering. Mr. Carter said his firm has tried to recruit her multiple times over the past few years. But over the past year, companies have added titles such as president and COO to top-performing CFOs’ remits i n an effort to retain them in a red-hot job market. Susan Li, the company’s vice president of finance since 2016, will succeed him. On Wednesday, Meta posted its first quarterly decline in revenue from a year earlier as it grapples with a slowdown in advertising spending, which accounts for the bulk of its revenue. By creating a new role for Mr. Wehner, Meta is facilitating a transition for Ms. Li, whom recruiters described as a rising star in corporate finance, and someone who has been on the shortlist for top finance jobs outside Meta. In her current role, Ms. Li oversees financial planning, forecasting and budgeting. It is rare for CFOs to move up to chief strategy officer, though the role is a natural segue given the variety of topics CFOs handle daily, such as deal making and other tasks that extend beyond managing the balance sheet, corporate recruiters said. The social media giant promoted CFO David Wehner to chief strategy officer, a rare title for former finance chiefs, according to recruiters

Meta META –6.72% Platforms shares continued to slide lower after the parent of Facebook and Instagram posted disappointing second quarter financial results—and ...

In a lawsuit filed against Meta Wednesday, the FTC alleges that the company's acquisition of virtual reality company Within Unlimited is illegal.

Evans said the market capitalization of metaverses Decentraland, SAND and Otherside alone totals $4.3 billion. The metaverse is a digital world where users can shop, work and interact virtually online. In an ongoing lawsuit against the company, the FTC alleged that Meta's previous Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions served to kill what the company viewed as competition to its popular social media site Facebook. Microsoft's $68 billion acquisition of video game publisher Activision Blizzard is facing a competition probe in the U.K. and is under review by the FTC. "Meta already owns a best-selling virtual reality fitness app, and it had the capabilities to compete even more closely with Within's popular Supernatural app," John Newman, FTC Bureau of Competition deputy director, said in the release. "But Meta chose to buy market position instead of earning it on the merits.

Shares of the California-based company were down about 4.6 pct in extended trading.

In the second quarter, Meta reported USD 218 million in non-ad revenue, which includes payments fees and sales of devices like its Quest virtual reality headsets, down from USD 497 million last year. Meta executives told investors they were making progress in replacing ad dollars lost as a result of the Apple changes but said it was being offset by the economic slowdown. The company is simultaneously carrying out several expensive overhauls as a result, revamping its core apps and boosting its ad targeting with AI, while also investing heavily in a longer-term bet on ‘metaverse’ hardware and software. Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O, the world's largest digital ad platform, reported a rise in quarterly revenue on Tuesday, with sales from its biggest moneymaker - Google search - topping investor expectations. Snap Inc SNAP.N and Twitter TWTR.N both missed sales expectations last week and warned of an ad market slowdown in coming quarters, sparking a broad sell-off across the sector. Meta said it expected a 6 pct revenue growth headwind in the third quarter, based on current exchange rates.

Meta revenue slipped to $28.8 billion in the second quarter, missing the $28.9 billion average analyst estimate.

More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Reels is currently bringing in advertising revenue at an implied rate of $1 billion a year, the company said. Investors are focusing on the fact that Facebook ads have declined in price by 14%, according to Bloomberg Intelligence Senior Technology Analyst Mandeep Singh. “That tells you they are making their numbers by increasing ad loads,” or the frequency of ads shown to users for each post. Some of Meta’s competitors are also being hit by the slowdown in advertising spending. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. Right now about 15% of the content in a Marketers are spending less due to various economic pressures, leaving Meta and its peers to compete for the smaller budgets. Meta put more Reels in its apps, and started paying creators to post them. The company’s advertising sales efforts are hitting a number of snags. Meta revenue slipped to $28.8 billion in the second quarter, missing the $28.9 billion average analyst estimate.

The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday moved to block Facebook-parent Meta from acquiring virtual reality company Within, offering the clearest signal ...

The agency pointed to a publicly-reported email Zuckerberg sent to Meta executives in which he is said to have told them it is "critical for the company to also be 'completely ubiquitous in killer apps,'" referring to apps that will prove the underlying value of new technologies. The complaint plainly recognizes Meta's potential to dominate the virtual reality space, Slaiman added. "By attacking this deal in a 3-2 vote, the FTC is sending a chilling message to anyone who wishes to innovate in VR. We are confident that our acquisition of Within will be good for people, developers and the VR space." Meta, in a blog post responding to the complaint, said Supernatural is not comparable to Beat Saber and thus the deal poses no competitive harm. "And this is not just our take -- Within's leadership team strongly believes its competitors are the Pelotons and other established fitness brands of the world, not Beat Saber or other casual VR games." More recently, it has made a slew of VR-related acquisitions, including game development platform Unit 2 Games and Beat Games, the developer behind Beat Saber. Meta announced its planned acquisition of Within for an undisclosed sum in October 2021.