Facebook’s parent firm recorded a 55% drop in profits during the final quarter of 2022 – the result of a $4.2bn restructuring charge that included the cost of thousands of job cuts.
Meta Platforms, which also includes WhatsApp and Instagram in its stable, said its net income profit measure slumped to $4.65bn between October and December.
That was down from a figure above $10bn during the same period in 2021.
However, its quarterly revenue, ad revenue and Facebook’s daily active user measures all beat market expectations.
Users of its platforms, taken together, were up 4%, with Facebook’s alone hitting two billion.
Shares, down by about 60% from their September 2021 peak at the market close, were up by more than 12% in after-hours trading.
That was explained, analysts suggested, by Meta’s forecasts for first-quarter revenue.
They came in above Wall Street estimates,…
