Facebook owner announces first dividend; action soars – 02/01/2024 – Tech

Meta announced its first dividend days before the 20th anniversary of its flagship social network, Facebook, while also reporting above-expected revenue supported by robust ad and device sales in the holiday shopping season.

Shares rose more than 14% in US after-market trading, extending a long rally that began two years ago in which Meta reached all-time highs in recent weeks.

The company’s market value rose by around US$130 billion (R$641 billion), increasing its valuation to five times the value of smaller rival Snap.

The company, one of the first “unicorns” in the technology sector, said the dividend would be 50 cents per share. It also announced the authorization for additional share buybacks worth US$50 billion (R$247 billion).

“We’ve made a lot of progress on our vision of advancing AI and the metaverse,” Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement.

Meta’s revenue rose 25%, to US$40.1 billion (R$198 billion) in the quarter ended December 31. Analysts expected revenue of US$39.2 billion (R$193 billion), according to data from LSEG.

“This was one of the most impressive quarters — both intrinsically and compared to expectations,” said Mark Mahaney, analyst at Evercore ISI.

Meta predicted first-quarter revenue of between US$34.5 billion and US$37 billion (R$170 billion and R$182 billion), above Wall Street expectations of 33.8 billion (R$167 billion).

The company also said it expects total expenses in 2024 to remain unchanged at between US$94 billion and US$99 billion (R$464 billion and R$489 billion).