- India restrict Pakistan to 105-8 in Women's T20 World Cup
- England target repeat of Pakistan Test whitewash
- Penrith Panthers win fourth straight NRL title after downing Storm
- Weary Sinner happy for day off after battling into Shanghai last 16
- Pakistan's Masood warns England still a force without Stokes
- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Sabalenka targets world number one and Wuhan hat-trick
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Bagnaia sets 'example' with Japan MotoGP win to cut gap on Martin
- Intense Israeli bombing rocks Beirut ahead of war anniversary
- Mozambique vote: no suspense but some disillusion
- Austrian rapper channels anti-racist rage in Romani hip-hop songs
- Ohtani magic powers Dodgers over Padres in MLB playoff thriller
- Five of the best: Pakistan-England Test thrillers
- Man sets arm on fire as marches across US mark Gaza war anniversary
- Vietnam's young coffee entrepreneurs brew up a revolution
- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
Meta profits soar but costs of AI cause worry
Facebook-owner Meta on Wednesday said its quarterly profits soared last quarter, but worries about the cost of artificial intelligence saw its share price take a hit on Wall Street.
The company founded by Mark Zuckerberg said that net profit in the January to March period rose to $12.4 billion with total revenue, mainly from selling ads, up an impressive 27 percent, at $36.5 billion.
"We estimate that more than 3.2 billion people use at least one of our apps each day and we're seeing healthy growth in the US," Zuckerberg, who is also CEO, told analysts on an investor call.
According to analyst Debra Williamson of Sonata Insights, Meta's growth is due in particular to its sophisticated advertising tools and the success of "Reels", the algorithm-fueled short videos to be scrolled through in succession, copied from TikTok.
In another potential boost to its business, by the end of the year, Meta could also start selling advertising on Threads, its text message platform similar to X (formerly Twitter).
With ads on Threads, "advertisers who are looking to reach audiences during real-time moments will finally have a viable alternative to X," said Mike Proulx, vice-president at Forrester.
The rise in sales and profit continued Meta's rebound of 2023, which came thanks to drastic cost-cutting, including massive layoffs in what Zuckerberg dubbed the "year of efficiency" that saw tens of thousands of employees let go after a miserable 2022.
Meta said its global workforce now stood at 69,329, slightly more than last quarter, but down from a peak of more than 87,000 employees in 2022.
- 'Several years' -
The company ended last year with record revenues and since then its share price has been soaring on Wall Street, thanks in particular to enthusiasm for AI with its stock almost tripling last year, and up another 40 percent in 2024.
But shares for Meta were down nearly 17 percent in after hours trading on Wednesday, with investors concerned by signs that expenditure was creeping back up.
Because of investments in AI, Meta said it anticipated full year 2024 capital expenditures will be in the range of 35 to $40 billion increased from a prior range of 30 to $37 billion.
Zuckerberg urged investors to be patient as his company made its move into AI, acknowledging that unrolling new products before they made money had "historically seen a lot of volatility in our stock."
"Building a leading AI will...be a larger undertaking than the other experiences we've added to our apps and this is likely going to take several years," he added.
Last week, Zuckerberg unveiled the latest version of Meta AI, which is now being deployed as a beefed up smart assistant across its apps, which include Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger and Facebook.
Meta's latest technology is being rolled out in more than a dozen English-speaking countries, including Australia, Canada, Singapore and the United States.
The AI is powered by LLaMA 3, the company’s most powerful large language model, which the company makes available to developers as an open-source product to create their own tools.
The tech giants are locked in a race to become AI leader, with Microsoft, thanks to its partnership with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, seen as the frontrunner.
AI is giving a lift to Microsoft’s core cloud computing business, a service that Meta does not provide, which creates added worry about the high costs of deploying the technology at the company.
As for the metaverse (mixing real and virtual worlds via high-tech glasses and headsets), which Zuckerberg describes as the future of the internet, the group's dedicated branch once again posted a substantial losses of $3.8 billion, even if this was less than expected.
Zuckerberg said the partnership with Ray-Ban on making VR glasses was "going really well" and that the company remained confident about the future the sector.
G.M.Castelo--PC