Meta
founder
and
CEO
Mark
Zuckerberg
speaks
during
the
Meta
Connect
event
at
Meta
headquarters
in
Menlo
Park,
California,
on
Sept.
27,
2023.

Josh
Edelson
|
AFP
|
Getty
Images


Mark
Zuckerberg

is
so
pleased
with
his
“year
of
efficiency”
that
he’s
extending
it
indefinitely.

On
Thursday’s
earnings
call,
after
Meta
reported

fourth-quarter
financials

that
sailed
past
analysts’
estimates,
Zuckerberg
said
he
wants
to
“keep
things
lean”
and
has
no
plans
to
accelerate
hiring.

Headcount,
which
peaked
well
above
86,000
in
2022,
shrank
22%

last
year
to
67,317,
as
Meta
instituted
mass
cost
cuts
to
appease
an
investor
base
that
had
lost
faith
in
the
company’s
ability
to
adjust
to
changing
market
conditions.
At
the
time,
Meta
was
facing
a
tough
digital
ad
market
and
the
lingering
effects
of


Apple’s

2021
iOS
update.

Exactly
a
year
ago,
Zuckerberg
told
analysts
on
an
earnings
call
that
management’s
theme
for
2023
would
be
the
year
of
efficiency
,”
and
that
Meta
would
become
a
“stronger
and
more
nimble
organization.”

Wall
Street
has
rewarded
him
ever
since.
The
stock

almost
tripled

in
value
last
year,
making
it
the
second-best
performer
in
the
S&P
500,
behind
only


Nvidia
.
It
reached
a
record
last
month,
and
the
continuing
rally
has
pushed
Meta’s
market
cap
well
past
$1
trillion.

On
Thursday,
Meta
reported
fourth-quarter
sales
growth
of
25%,
the
fastest
rate
of
expansion
since
mid-2021,
to
$40.1
billion.
Net
income
soared
a
whopping
201%
to
$14
billion,
and
the
company’s
operating
margin
more
than
doubled
to
41%.
The
stock
jumped
15%
in
extended
trading.

Add
it
all
up,
and
Meta
is
showing
it
can
grow
at
a
healthy
clip
while
also
dramatically
cutting
costs,
which
shrank
8%
from
a
year
earlier.
So
confident
is
the
company
in
its
financial
health
that
it
authorized
a
$50
billion
share
buyback
and,
for
the
first
time,
said
it
would
pay
a

50-cent
quarterly
dividend
.

Meta is in 'great shape,' says Clockwise Capital's James Cakmak


watch
now

It’s
not
that
Zuckerberg
isn’t
willing
to
spend
money.
He
just
doesn’t
want
to
do
it
on
people.

Zuckerberg
said
on
the
call
that
his
playbook
involves
building
a
“world-class
compute
infrastructure,”
which
means

spending
billions
of
dollars

on
Nvidia’s

artificial
intelligence

chips
needed
to
train
Meta’s
AI
models.

“We’re
playing
to
win
here
and
I
expect
us
to
continue
investing
aggressively
in
this
area
in
order
to
build
the
most
advanced
clusters,”
Zuckerberg
said.
“We’re
also
designing
novel
data
centers
and
designing
our
own
custom
silicon
specialized
for
our
workloads.”


‘Even
beyond
2024’

Total
expenses
for
the
year
will
be
$94
billion
to
$99
billion,
Meta
said,
up
from
$88.15
billion
in
2023.
Finance
chief
Susan
Li
said
capital
expenditures
will
be
between
$30
billion
to
$37
billion,
“a
$2
billion
increase
of
the
high
end
of
our
prior
range.”

But
when
it
comes
to
hiring,
Zuckerberg
said
the
days
of
hyper
growth
are
in
the
rearview
mirror.


Meta

still
plans
to
add
people
this
year
for
high-paying,
technical
roles,
but
increases
in
headcount
will
be
“relatively
minimal
compared
to
what
we
would
have
done
historically,”
Zuckerberg
said.

“Until
we
reach
a
point
where
we’re
just
really
underwater
on
our
ability
to
execute,
I
kind
of
want
to
keep
things
lean
because
I
think
that’s
the
right
thing
for
us
to
do
culturally,”
he
added.

And
that’s
not
just
a
story
for
this
year,
if
Zuckerberg
is
to
be
believed.

“I
sort
of
expect
that
for
the
next
period
of
time
going
forward
even
beyond
2024,”
he
said.

Meanwhile,
Meta’s
Reality
Labs
unit,
tasked
with
developing
virtual
reality
and
augmented
reality
technologies,
continues
to

bleed
cash

and
doesn’t
appear
to
be
slowing
down.
The
division
racked
up
a
record
operating
loss
of
$4.65
billion
in
the
fourth
quarter
and
has
now
lost
over
$42
billion
since
late
2020.
Revenue,
driven
mostly
by
Quest
VR
headsets,
climbed
past
$1
billion
for
the
first
time.

Meta
said
losses
at
Reality
Labs
will
continue
to
“increase
meaningfully
year-over-year,”
underscoring
Zuckerberg’s
ongoing
belief
that
the
metaverse
is
the
computing
platform
of
the
future.

He’s
no
longer
concerned
with
scaring
off
investors,
acknowledging
that
the
major
cost
cuts
have
enabled
Meta
to
make
“different
investments
where
that’s
necessary,”
Zuckerberg
said.

“That
was
the
theme
that
I
laid
out
at
the
beginning
of
the
year
of
efficiency
last
year,
to
make
us
a
stronger
technology
company
and
give
us
the
flexibility
and
stability
to
execute
the
long-term
goals,”
he
said.


WATCH
:

Meta
announces
first
ever
dividend
of
$0.50
.

Meta announces first ever dividend of $0.50


watch
now