Meta reports Q2 results with double-digit revenue, net income increase

SAN FRANCISCO, July 26 (Xinhua) -- U.S. social media giant Meta Platforms, Inc., on Wednesday reported financial results for the second quarter ending June 30, with a total quarterly revenue of 32.0 billion U.S. dollars, an 11 percent increase year on year.

The company's quarterly net income increased to 7.8 billion dollars, up 16 percent from 6.7 billion dollars year on year. The diluted earnings per share for the quarter increased to 2.98 dollars from 2.46 dollars in the same period of 2022, said Meta based in Menlo Park, California.

The monthly active users increased 3 percent year on year to 3.03 billion as of June 30, while daily active users were 2.06 billion on average for June, an increase of 5 percent.

Its cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities were 53.45 billion dollars as of June 30. Free cash flow was 10.96 billion dollars in the second quarter of 2023, according to the company.

"We had a good quarter. We continue to see strong engagement across our apps and we have the most exciting roadmap I've seen in a while with Llama 2, Threads, Reels, new AI products in the pipeline, and the launch of Quest 3 this fall," said Mark Zuckerberg, Meta founder and chief executive officer.

Beginning in 2022, Meta initiated several measures to pursue efficiency and to realign business and strategic priorities. "As of June 30, 2023, we have substantially completed planned employee layoffs while continuing to assess facilities consolidation and data center restructuring initiatives," the company said.

Meta expects total revenue of the third quarter to be in the range of 32 billion to 34.5 billion dollars, and the 2023 total expenses to be in the range of 88 billion to 91 billion dollars, increased from its prior range of 86 billion to 90 billion dollars due to legal-related expenses recorded in the second quarter of 2023.

"We also anticipate third quarter Reality Labs revenue to be lower than second quarter revenue. Our guidance assumes foreign currency will be an approximately 6 percent headwind to year-over-year total revenue growth in the third quarter, based on current exchange rates," said Susan Li, Meta's chief financial officer.

"Looking ahead, while we will continue to refine our plans as we progress throughout this year, we currently expect total capital expenditures to grow in 2024, driven by our investments across both data centers and servers, particularly in support of our AI work," she added.