Meta Reports Third Quarter 2023 Results

MENLO PARK, Calif., Oct. 25, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Meta Platforms, Inc. (Nasdaq: META) today reported financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2023.

“We had a good quarter for our community and business,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Meta founder and CEO. “I’m proud of the work our teams have done to advance AI and mixed reality with the launch of Quest 3, Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, and our AI studio.”

Third Quarter 2023 Financial Highlights

	Three Months Ended September 30,
In millions, except percentages and per share amounts	2023			2022			% Change
Revenue	$	34,146		$	27,714		23 %
Costs and expenses		20,398			22,050		(7) %
Income from operations	$	13,748		$	5,664		143 %
Operating margin		40 %			20 %
Provision for income taxes	$	2,437		$	1,181		106 %
Effective tax rate		17 %			21 %
Net income	$	11,583		$	4,395		164 %
Diluted earnings per share (EPS)	$	4.39		$	1.64		168 %

Third Quarter 2023 Operational and Other Financial Highlights

• Family daily active people (DAP) – DAP was 3.14 billion on average for September 2023, an increase of 7% year-over-year.
• Family monthly active people (MAP) – MAP was 3.96 billion as of September 30, 2023, an increase of 7% year-over-year.
• Facebook daily active users (DAUs) – DAUs were 2.09 billion on average for September 2023, an increase of 5% year-over-year.
• Facebook monthly active users (MAUs) – MAUs were 3.05 billion as of September 30, 2023, an increase of 3% year-over-year.
• Ad impressions and price per ad – In the third quarter of 2023, ad impressions delivered across our Family of Apps increased by 31% year-over-year and the average price per ad decreased by 6% year-over-year.
• Revenue – Revenue was $34.15 billion, an increase of 23% year-over-year, and an increase of 21% year-over-year on a constant currency basis.
• Costs and expenses – Total costs and expenses were $20.40 billion, a decrease of 7% year-over-year.
• Capital expenditures – Capital expenditures, including principal payments on finance leases, were $6.76 billion for the third quarter of 2023.
• Share repurchases – We repurchased $3.70 billion of our Class A common stock in the third quarter of 2023. As of September 30, 2023, we had $37.22 billion available and authorized for repurchases.
• Cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities – Cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities were $61.12 billion as of September 30, 2023. Free cash flow was $13.64 billion in the third quarter of 2023.
• Long-term debt – Long-term debt was $18.38 billion as of September 30, 2023.
• Headcount – Headcount was 66,185 as of September 30, 2023, a decrease of 24% year-over-year. A substantial majority of the employees impacted by the layoffs are no longer included in our reported headcount as of September 30, 2023.

Restructuring

Beginning in 2022, we initiated several measures to pursue greater efficiency and to realign our business and strategic priorities. As of September 30, 2023, we have substantially completed planned employee layoffs while continuing to assess facilities consolidation and data center restructuring initiatives.

A summary of our restructuring charges, including subsequent adjustments, for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023 by major activity type is as follows (in millions):

	Three Months Ended September 30, 2023								Nine Months Ended September 30, 2023
	Facilities Consolidation		Severance and Other Personnel Costs		Data Center Assets		Total		Facilities Consolidation		Severance and Other Personnel Costs		Data Center Assets		Total
Cost of revenue	nbsp;          25		nbsp;         —		nbsp;       (12)		nbsp;         13		nbsp;          92		nbsp;         —		nbsp;     (232)		nbsp;    (140)
Research and development	228		(70)		—		158		871		385		—		1,256
Marketing and sales	54		69		—		123		233		290		—		523
General and administrative	45		41		—		86		210		454		—		664
Total	nbsp;        352		nbsp;         40		nbsp;       (12)		nbsp;       380		nbsp;     1,406		nbsp;    1,129		nbsp;     (232)		nbsp;   2,303

During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023, we recorded total restructuring charges of $305 million and $1.94 billion under our FoA segment, respectively, and $75 million and $360 million under our RL segment, respectively.

CFO Outlook Commentary

We expect fourth quarter 2023 total revenue to be in the range of $36.5-40 billion. Our guidance assumes a foreign currency tailwind of approximately 2% to year-over-year total revenue growth in the fourth quarter, based on current exchange rates.

We anticipate that our full-year 2023 total expenses will be in the range of $87-89 billion, lowered from our prior range of $88-91 billion. This outlook includes approximately $3.5 billion of restructuring costs related to facilities consolidation charges and severance and other personnel costs. We expect Reality Labs operating losses to increase year-over-year in 2023.

We are also sharing a preliminary outlook for 2024 expenses, capital expenditures and our tax rate. We expect full-year 2024 total expenses to be in the range of $94-99 billion. We continue to expect a few factors to be drivers of total expense growth in 2024:

• First, we expect higher infrastructure-related costs next year. Given our increased capital investments in recent years, we expect depreciation expenses in 2024 to increase by a larger amount than in 2023. We also expect to incur higher operating costs from running a larger infrastructure footprint.
• Second, we anticipate growth in payroll expenses as we work down our current hiring underrun and add incremental talent to support priority areas in 2024, which we expect will continue to shift our workforce composition toward higher-cost technical roles.
• Finally, for Reality Labs, we expect operating losses to increase meaningfully year-over-year due to our ongoing product development efforts in augmented reality/virtual reality and our investments to further scale our ecosystem.

We expect 2023 capital expenditures to be in the range of $27-29 billion, updated from our prior estimate of $27-30 billion.

We anticipate our full-year 2024 capital expenditures will be in the range of $30-35 billion, with growth driven by investments in servers, including both non-artificial intelligence (AI) and AI hardware, and data centers as we ramp up construction on sites with the new data center architecture we announced late last year.

Absent any changes to U.S. tax law, we expect our fourth quarter 2023 and full-year 2024 tax rates to be similar to the third quarter of 2023.

Please note that our outlook for 2024 expenses, capital expenditures and tax rate are preliminary estimates. In the future, we expect to provide our initial forward year expense, capital expenditures and tax rate outlooks on the fourth quarter call.

In addition, we continue to monitor the active regulatory landscape, including the increasing legal and regulatory headwinds in the EU and the U.S. that could significantly impact our business and our financial results. Of note, the Federal Trade Commission is seeking to substantially modify our existing consent order and impose additional restrictions on our ability to operate. We are contesting this matter, but if we are unsuccessful it would have an adverse impact on our business.

Webcast and Conference Call Information

Meta will host a conference call to discuss the results at 2 p.m. PT / 5 p.m. ET today. The live webcast of Meta’s earnings conference call can be accessed at investor.fb.com, along with the earnings press release, financial tables, and slide presentation. Meta uses the investor.fb.com and about.fb.com/news/ websites as well as Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook Page (facebook.com/zuck), Instagram account (instagram.com/zuck) and Threads profile (threads.net/zuck) as means of disclosing material non-public information and for complying with its disclosure obligations under Regulation FD.

Following the call, a replay will be available at the same website. A telephonic replay will be available for one week following the conference call at +1 (800) 633-8284 or +1 (402) 977-9140, conference ID 22028137.

Transcripts of conference calls with publishing equity research analysts held today will also be posted to the investor.fb.com website.

About Meta

Meta builds technologies that help people connect, find communities, and grow businesses. When Facebook launched in 2004, it changed the way people connect. Apps like Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp further empowered billions around the world. Now, Meta is moving beyond 2D screens toward immersive experiences like augmented and virtual reality to help build the next evolution in social technology.

Contacts

Investors:

Kenneth Dorell

investor@meta.com / investor.fb.com

Press:

Ryan Moore

press@meta.com / about.fb.com/news/

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding our future business plans and expectations. These forward-looking statements are only predictions and may differ materially from actual results due to a variety of factors including: the impact of macroeconomic conditions on our business and financial results, including as a result of geopolitical events; our ability to retain or increase users and engagement levels; our reliance on advertising revenue; our dependency on data signals and mobile operating systems, networks, and standards that we do not control; changes to the content or application of third-party policies that impact our advertising practices; risks associated with new products and changes to existing products as well as other new business initiatives, including our metaverse efforts; our emphasis on community growth and engagement and the user experience over short-term financial results; maintaining and enhancing our brand and reputation; our ongoing privacy, safety, security, and content review efforts; competition; risks associated with government actions that could restrict access to our products or impair our ability to sell advertising in certain countries; litigation and government inquiries; privacy, legislative, and regulatory concerns or developments; risks associated with acquisitions; security breaches; and our ability to manage our scale and geographically-dispersed operations. These and other potential risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from the results predicted are more fully detailed under the caption “Risk Factors” in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on July 27, 2023, which is available on our Investor Relations website at investor.fb.com and on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. Additional information will also be set forth in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2023. In addition, please note that the date of this press release is October 25, 2023, and any forward-looking statements contained herein are based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable as of this date. We undertake no obligation to update these statements as a result of new information or future events.

For a discussion of limitations in the measurement of certain of our community metrics, see the section entitled “Limitations of Key Metrics and Other Data” in our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

To supplement our condensed consolidated financial statements, which are prepared and presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (GAAP), we use the following non-GAAP financial measures: revenue excluding foreign exchange effect, advertising revenue excluding foreign exchange effect, and free cash flow. The presentation of these financial measures is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for, or superior to, financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP. Investors are cautioned that there are material limitations associated with the use of non-GAAP financial measures as an analytical tool. In addition, these measures may be different from non-GAAP financial measures used by other companies, limiting their usefulness for comparison purposes. We compensate for these limitations by providing specific information regarding the GAAP amounts excluded from these non-GAAP financial measures.

We believe these non-GAAP financial measures provide investors with useful supplemental information about the financial performance of our business, enable comparison of financial results between periods where certain items may vary independent of business performance, and allow for greater transparency with respect to key metrics used by management in operating our business.

We exclude the following items from our non-GAAP financial measures:

Foreign exchange effect on revenue. We translated revenue for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023 using the prior year’s monthly exchange rates for our settlement or billing currencies other than the U.S. dollar, which we believe is a useful metric that facilitates comparison to our historical performance.

Purchases of property and equipment; Principal payments on finance leases. We subtract both purchases of property and equipment, net of proceeds and principal payments on finance leases in our calculation of free cash flow because we believe that these two items collectively represent the amount of property and equipment we need to procure to support our business, regardless of whether we procure such property or equipment with a finance lease. We believe that this methodology can provide useful supplemental information to help investors better understand underlying trends in our business. Free cash flow is not intended to represent our residual cash flow available for discretionary expenditures.

For more information on our non-GAAP financial measures and a reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP measures, please see the “Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Results” table in this press release.

META PLATFORMS, INC. CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME (In millions, except per share amounts) (Unaudited)
	Three Months Ended September 30,				Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2023		2022		2023		2022
Revenue	nbsp;          34,146		nbsp;          27,714		nbsp;          94,791		nbsp;          84,444
Costs and expenses:
Cost of revenue	6,210		5,716		18,264		16,913
Research and development	9,241		9,170		27,966		25,567
Marketing and sales	2,877		3,780		9,075		10,688
General and administrative	2,070		3,384		9,119		8,731
Total costs and expenses	20,398		22,050		64,424		61,899
Income from operations	13,748		5,664		30,367		22,545
Interest and other income (expense), net	272		(88)		254		125
Income before provision for income taxes	14,020		5,576		30,621		22,670
Provision for income taxes	2,437		1,181		5,540		4,123
Net income	nbsp;          11,583		nbsp;             4,395		nbsp;          25,081		nbsp;          18,547
Earnings per share attributable to Class A and Class B common stockholders:
Basic	nbsp;              4.50		nbsp;               1.64		nbsp;              9.73		nbsp;              6.86
Diluted	nbsp;              4.39		nbsp;               1.64		nbsp;              9.56		nbsp;              6.82
Weighted-average shares used to compute earnings per share attributable to Class A and Class B common stockholders:
Basic	2,576		2,682		2,577		2,703
Diluted	2,641		2,687		2,623		2,718

 

META PLATFORMS, INC. CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (In millions) (Unaudited)
	September 30, 2023		December 31, 2022
Assets
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents	nbsp;                 36,890		nbsp;                 14,681
Marketable securities	24,233		26,057
Accounts receivable, net	12,944		13,466
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	4,311		5,345
Total current assets	78,378		59,549
Non-marketable equity securities	6,142		6,201
Property and equipment, net	91,772		79,518
Operating lease right-of-use assets	13,033		12,673
Intangible assets, net	813		897
Goodwill	20,668		20,306
Other assets	5,468		6,583
Total assets	nbsp;               216,274		nbsp;               185,727
Liabilities and stockholders’ equity
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable	nbsp;                   4,372		nbsp;                   4,990
Partners payable	770		1,117
Operating lease liabilities, current	1,460		1,367
Accrued expenses and other current liabilities	23,929		19,552
Total current liabilities	30,531		27,026
Operating lease liabilities, non-current	16,374		15,301
Long-term debt	18,383		9,923
Other liabilities	8,113		7,764
Total liabilities	73,401		60,014
Commitments and contingencies
Stockholders’ equity:
Common stock and additional paid-in capital	71,224		64,444
Accumulated other comprehensive loss	(3,556)		(3,530)
Retained earnings	75,205		64,799
Total stockholders’ equity	142,873		125,713
Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity	nbsp;               216,274		nbsp;               185,727

 

META PLATFORMS, INC. CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (In millions) (Unaudited)
	Three Months Ended  September 30,				Nine Months Ended  September 30,
	2023		2022		2023		2022
Cash flows from operating activities
Net income	nbsp;     11,583		nbsp;       4,395		nbsp;    25,081		nbsp;    18,547
Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities:
Depreciation and amortization	2,858		2,175		8,006		6,310
Share-based compensation	3,492		3,134		10,603		8,984
Deferred income taxes	3,049		(1,097)		1,292		(2,113)
Impairment charges for facilities consolidation, net	340		413		1,342		413
Other	75		104		278		71
Changes in assets and liabilities:
Accounts receivable	(678)		(105)		444		1,930
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	(907)		(830)		(141)		(693)
Other assets	(36)		(27)		31		(160)
Accounts payable	611		(22)		(543)		(666)
Partners payable	9		20		(347)		(12)
Accrued expenses and other current liabilities	78		998		5,702		2,942
Other liabilities	(72)		533		(39)		411
Net cash provided by operating activities	20,402		9,691		51,709		35,964
Cash flows from investing activities
Purchases of property and equipment	(6,543)		(9,375)		(19,601)		(22,388)
Proceeds relating to property and equipment	47		20		148		190
Purchases of marketable debt securities	(1,008)		(2,597)		(1,810)		(8,885)
Maturities and sales of marketable debt securities	1,475		2,269		3,825		10,895
Acquisitions of businesses and intangible assets	(38)		(34)		(565)		(1,250)
Other investing activities	(10)		16		(20)		(1)
Net cash used in investing activities	(6,077)		(9,701)		(18,023)		(21,439)
Cash flows from financing activities
Taxes paid related to net share settlement of equity awards	(2,087)		(1,011)		(4,789)		(2,938)
Repurchases of Class A common stock	(3,570)		(6,354)		(13,832)		(21,093)
Proceeds from issuance of long-term debt, net	—		9,921		8,455		9,921
Principal payments on finance leases	(267)		(163)		(751)		(615)
Other financing activities	49		(246)		(182)		(351)
Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities	(5,875)		2,147		(11,099)		(15,076)
Effect of exchange rate changes on cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash	(354)		(364)		(283)		(1,063)
Net increase (decrease) in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash	8,096		1,773		22,304		(1,614)
Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash at beginning of the period	29,804		13,478		15,596		16,865
Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash at end of the period	nbsp;     37,900		nbsp;     15,251		nbsp;    37,900		nbsp;    15,251
Reconciliation of cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash to the condensed consolidated balance sheets
Cash and cash equivalents	nbsp;     36,890		nbsp;     14,308		nbsp;    36,890		nbsp;    14,308
Restricted cash, included in prepaid expenses and other current assets	152		232		152		232
Restricted cash, included in other assets	858		711		858		711
Total cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash	nbsp;     37,900		nbsp;     15,251		nbsp;    37,900		nbsp;    15,251

 

META PLATFORMS, INC. CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (In millions) (Unaudited)
	Three Months Ended  September 30,				Nine Months Ended  September 30,
	2023		2022		2023		2022
Supplemental cash flow data
Cash paid for income taxes, net	nbsp;           509		nbsp;        2,006		nbsp;        2,016		nbsp;        4,647
Cash paid for interest, net of amounts capitalized	nbsp;           120		nbsp;             —		nbsp;           302		nbsp;             —
Non-cash investing and financing activities:
Property and equipment in accounts payable and accrued expenses and other current liabilities	nbsp;        4,506		nbsp;        4,130		nbsp;        4,506		nbsp;        4,130
Acquisition of businesses in accrued expenses and other current liabilities and other liabilities	nbsp;           182		nbsp;           294		nbsp;           182		nbsp;           294
Repurchases of Class A common stock in accrued expenses and other current liabilities	nbsp;           122		nbsp;           265		nbsp;           122		nbsp;           265

 

Segment Results

We report our financial results for our two reportable segments: Family of Apps (FoA) and Reality Labs (RL). FoA includes Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and other services. RL includes augmented and virtual reality related consumer hardware, software, and content.

The following table presents our segment information of revenue and income (loss) from operations:

 

Segment Information (In millions) (Unaudited)
	Three Months Ended  September 30,				Nine Months Ended  September 30,
	2023		2022		2023		2022
Revenue:
Advertising	nbsp;     33,643		nbsp;     27,237		nbsp;     93,242		nbsp;     82,387
Other revenue	293		192		724		624
Family of Apps	33,936		27,429		93,966		83,011
Reality Labs	210		285		825		1,433
Total revenue	nbsp;     34,146		nbsp;     27,714		nbsp;     94,791		nbsp;     84,444
Income (loss) from operations:
Family of Apps	nbsp;     17,490		nbsp;       9,336		nbsp;     41,841		nbsp;     31,983
Reality Labs	(3,742)		(3,672)		(11,474)		(9,438)
Total income from operations	nbsp;     13,748		nbsp;       5,664		nbsp;     30,367		nbsp;     22,545
Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Results (In millions, except percentages) (Unaudited)
	Three Months Ended  September 30,				Nine Months Ended  September 30,
	2023		2022		2023		2022
GAAP revenue	nbsp;     34,146		nbsp;      27,714		nbsp;     94,791		nbsp;     84,444
Foreign exchange effect on 2023 revenue using 2022 rates	(647)				442
Revenue excluding foreign exchange effect	nbsp;     33,499				nbsp;     95,233
GAAP revenue year-over-year change %	23 %				12 %
Revenue excluding foreign exchange effect year-over-year change %	21 %				13 %
GAAP advertising revenue	nbsp;     33,643		nbsp;      27,237		nbsp;     93,242		nbsp;     82,387
Foreign exchange effect on 2023 advertising revenue using 2022 rates	(645)				431
Advertising revenue excluding foreign exchange effect	nbsp;     32,998				nbsp;     93,673
GAAP advertising revenue year-over-year change %	24 %				13 %
Advertising revenue excluding foreign exchange effect year-over-year change %	21 %				14 %
Net cash provided by operating activities	nbsp;     20,402		nbsp;        9,691		nbsp;     51,709		nbsp;     35,964
Purchases of property and equipment, net	(6,496)		(9,355)		(19,453)		(22,198)
Principal payments on finance leases	(267)		(163)		(751)		(615)
Free cash flow	nbsp;     13,639		nbsp;           173		nbsp;     31,505		nbsp;     13,151

 

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