Under fire, Facebook announces a strong third quarter

By looking at the numbers, you’d never know that Facebook is in some of the hottest water it’s felt in its history. The company released its third quarter financial results amid blowback from highly negative news coverage based on internal documents leaked by whistleblower Frances Haugen. Facebook reported revenue of $29.01 billion, which was slightly lower than analyst expectations. But earnings came in above analyst expectations at $3.22 per share. Its shares bounced up 3% on the news. Apple as ‘major headwind’ Analysts and investors had been concerned that Facebook’s results would be depressed by Apple’s move to allow users of iOS devices to opt out of in-app ad tracking (Ad Tracking Transparency), allowing them to block the techniques that interactive advertising platforms, such as Facebook, Google, and Snap use to target ads and measure their performance. Snap’s stock took a 25% haircut after the company reported disappointing results and stated that Apple’s change earlier this year was the main cause. Facebook also felt the effects, but not as severely, and was not punished by its investors. During Monday’s earnings call, Facebook CFO David Wehner said Apple’s tracking crackdown was the “major headwind” confronting Facebook’s ad business during the third quarter. COO Sheryl Sandberg said her company would have seen its ad business grow from the second quarter to the third had it not been for Apple’s policy change. She added that Facebook has already begun building tools to help it target and measure ads without the help of device identification it once received from all iOS devices. The company said it expects fourth-quarter revenue of $31.5 billion to $34 billion. Bracing for bad press This week Facebook is bracing for blowback from a second wave of negative news stories, this time from a consortium of news organizations that recently gained access to the documents leaked by former Facebook employee Haugen. The Wall Street Journal was the first to get access, from which it generated a batch of damaging stories, collectively called the “Facebook Files” series. Intense Congressional scrutiny has resulted from the bombshell coverage. And now a second whistleblower has emerged with an affidavit corroborating Haugen’s claims about the social networking giant. According to the Washington Post, the second (as-yet-unnamed) whistleblower claims that Facebook allowed illegal activity to persist on its platform, and echoes Haugen’s claim that the company “prizes growth and profit over combating hate speech, misinformation and other threats to the public.” During the earnings call with analysts, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg sounded off defiantly about the leaks and media coverage. “What we’re seeing is a coordinated effort to selectively use leaked documents to paint a false picture of our company,” he said. Rebranding for the metaverse? The Verge‘s Alex Heath reported October 19 that Facebook plans to rebrand itself to reflect its ambitious plans to become “a metaverse company,” as Zuckerberg has said. Comments by company executives Monday strongly suggest those plans are real. Facebook said Monday that it will begin reporting the financial performance of Facebook Reality Labs (FRL)–where much of the AR development is taking place—separately from the performance of its other apps. This is very likely a precursor to a new company organization that puts apps like WhatsApp and Instagram under an umbrella name (a la “Alphabet”), and elevates Facebook Reality Labs as Facebook’s centerpiece. The company says it already has more than 10,000 people working on its initiative to build the foundational technologies needed to underpin its metaverse. This could include both virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) headsets or glasses, a mixed reality operating system, and social media apps and other software experiences.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90689822/facebook-q3-earnings?partner=rss&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss+fastcompany&utm_content=rss

Creado 4y | 28 oct 2021, 15:21:25


Inicia sesión para agregar comentarios

Otros mensajes en este grupo.

Is Apple getting ready to launch a PlayStation and Xbox competitor?

The Apple TV is probably my favorite device that Apple makes. While the Apple TV app is in dire need

2 ago 2025, 11:10:06 | Fast company - tech
This free Adobe tool offers Photoshop-strength background removal

Sometimes, the simplest photo feats are the most satisfying of all.

Me? I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve needed to remove the background from an image for one reason or anothe

2 ago 2025, 11:10:04 | Fast company - tech
Google loses appeal in antitrust battle with Epic Games

A federal appeals court has upheld a jury verdict condemning Google’s Android app store as an illegal monopoly, clearing the way for a federal judge to enforce a potentially disruptive shake

1 ago 2025, 18:50:03 | Fast company - tech
Apple shares are up 2% after iPhone maker posts strong Q3 results

Apple shares rose 2% in premarket trading on Friday, after the

1 ago 2025, 16:30:05 | Fast company - tech
OpenAI pulls ChatGPT feature that showed personal chats on Google

OpenAI has removed a controversial opt-in feature that had led to some private chats appearing in Google search results, following reporting by Fast Company that found sensitive conversa

1 ago 2025, 14:20:02 | Fast company - tech
YouTube channels are being sold and repurposed to spread scams and disinformation, says new research

YouTubers dedicate their lives to building a following in hopes of creating and sustaining a livelihood. For top creators, the rewards are immense: MrBeast, the world’s biggest YouTuber, is

1 ago 2025, 11:50:06 | Fast company - tech
Tech policy could be smarter and less partisan if Congress hadn’t shut down this innovative program

Imagine if Congress had a clear-eyed guide to the technological upheavals shaping our lives. A team of in-house experts who could have flagged the risks of generative

1 ago 2025, 11:50:05 | Fast company - tech