 Meta, Facebook’s parent company, released its Q4 and full-year earnings on Wednesday after market close, missing analysts’ expectations on earnings. The company reported Q4 revenue of $33.67B, a 20% increase YoY. Q4 net income came in at $10.29B, an 8% drop from last year, and Q4 earnings per share were reported at $3.67, a 5% drop from $3.88 reported last year. The company pointed to Apple’s iOS software update that gave users the option to opt out of ad tracking, which impacted sales. Full-year revenue came in at $117.93B, a 37% increase YoY, and net income came in at $39.37B or $13.77 a share, a ~36% increase YoY. More: - Q4 Revenues by segment
- Family of Apps (Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp) – $32.79B
- Reality Labs (Oculus, Metaverse) – $877M
- Full-year Revenues by segment
- Family of Apps – $115.66B
- Reality Labs (Occulus, Metaverse) – $2.27B
- DAUs – 1.93 billion, a 5% increase YoY.
- MAUs – 2.91 billion, a 4% increase YoY.
- Average Revenue per User (ARPU) -- $11.57
- Meta also reported a slight decline in DAUs in Q4, the first time in its history.
- Meta noted supply chain challenges and inflation as other factors that impacted its sales, as these issues affected advertisers’ budgets.
- The company bought back $19.18B of its Class A common stock in Q4 and $44.81B in the full year.
- Meta is expecting Q1 2022 revenue to fall between $27B to $29B, coming short of analysts’ expectations of $30.15B or higher.
- Meta shares dropped over 20% in after-market trading on Wednesday, wiping over $200B from the company’s market cap.
- It closed at $237.76 on Thursday, down $26.39% for the day.
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The Bank of England, the U.K.’s central bank, raised interest rates to 0.5% on Thursday. The bank’s Monetary Policy Committee, in a 5-4 vote, decided on a 25-basis-point rate increase. Four members had voted for a 50 basis points increase, which would have raised interest rates to 0.75%. Consumer prices in the U.K. hit a 30-year high in December with an annual inflation rate of 5.4%, partly due to rising energy costs and supply chain interruptions. More: - The bank first raised interest rates to 0.25% in December.
- The bank on Thursday raised its inflation forecast to peak at 7.25% in April, up from 6% projected in December.
- The bank plans to start reducing its £895B ($1.2T) of government and corporate bond purchases made as part of its quantitative easing program.
- The Pound Sterling rose 0.2% against the dollar to $1.36.
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 Gabby Jones -- Bloomberg/Getty Images Spotify released its Q4 earnings on Wednesday, beating analysts’ expectations on revenue and earnings. The streaming platform reported Q4 revenue of $3.025B, a 24% increase YoY. Premium revenue came in at $2.58B, a 22% increase YoY, and ad-supported revenue came in at $443M, a 40% increase YoY. The company narrowed its losses to 23 cents a share. Spotify addressed the ongoing controversy around podcast host Joe Rogan, with CEO Daniel Ek noting the changes the company is taking to address misinformation on its platform. More: - MAUs on the platform grew to 406 million, an 18% increase YoY. Paid subscribers rose to 180 million, a 16% increase YoY.
- The company bought back $67.49M worth of its shares in Q4 bringing the total of its repurchases for 2021 to $101.81M.
- For Q1 2022, the company is projecting $2.97B in total revenue, 418 million total MAUs, and 183 million total premium subscribers.
- Spotify shares fell over 10% in after-market trading on Wednesday. It closed at $159.76 on Thursday, down ~17% for the day.
In related news: A growing list of musicians, authors, and podcasters are pulling their content from Spotify citing the platform’s support of Rogan.
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 Image: ICEYE ICEYE, a satellite imagery startup, has raised $136M in a Series D funding round led by Seraphim Capital. The new funding brings ICEYE's total raise to $304M; investors include True Ventures, Space Capital, DNX Ventures, Promus Ventures, and Molten Ventures. ICEYE was founded in 2014 in Finland. It specializes in capturing images of Earth from space using its synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technology that cuts down the cost of launching multiple satellites to orbit. More: - ICEYE has clients across various industries – shipping and maritime monitoring, finance, insurance, and catastrophe response.
- ICEYE plans to use the new funding to develop its natural catastrophe detection product line and increase its spacecraft fleet.
- The company, which recently signed a contract with the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office, plans to launch 10 new satellites in 2022.
- The company did not disclose its new valuation.
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Sony Corp released its Q3 FY2021 earnings on Wednesday, beating analysts’ expectations on revenue and earnings. Sony reported Q3 revenue of $26.4B, a 13% increase YoY, and net income of $4B, a 20% increase YoY. Sony cut down its full-year revenue forecasts for its gaming business from $25.1B to $24B, pointing to a drop in sales of its PlayStation 5 console due to chip shortages. More: - Sony’s gaming unit reported a profit of $810M, an 12% increase YoY.
- Sony Pictures, the company’s movie business, reported Q3 revenue of $4B, a 270% increase YoY, thanks in part to the huge successes of its Spider-Man: No Way Home and Venom: Let There Be Carnage movies.
- Sony Pictures also signed a $500M licensing deal of Seinfeld to Netflix.
- Sony Music reported $480M in profits, a 4% drop from last year.
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 Jasmine Thomas #5 of Connecticut Sun drives against Elena | GETTY IMAGES The Women’s NBA completed its first-ever capital raise, bringing in $75M at a $1B valuation. In a statement, the league called it the largest capital raise for a women’s sports property. Investors include Nike, Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell, former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Laurene Powell Jobs (the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs), Alibaba co-founder Joe Tsai, Miami Heat owner Micky Arison, and WNBA champion Swin Cash. More: - According to the league’s press release on the raise, Nike made a significant equity investment.
- The league plans to use the new funds to grow the business – establish a sustainable business model, increase media coverage, and hopefully increase sponsorship dollars for players.
- According to data from ESPN, regular-season viewership of the WNBA rose 49% in 2021.
- The league will start its 26th season in May.
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Quick Hits - For Completeness of Vision and Ability to Execute, the Gartner Magic Quadrant named Adobe a Leader among 17 vendors — See why here.*
- Nokia is reinstating its dividend payouts after reporting solid Q4 earnings. The company also announced a new share buyback program.
- Tesla is recalling 817,143 vehicles due to a seat belt chime functionality flaw. The recalls are the Model 3 and Model Y vehicles and the 2021-2022 Model S and Model X vehicles.
- Yuga Labs, the startup that makes the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs, is having investment talks with Andreessen Horowitz that could give the company a $5B valuation.
- Johnson & Johnson and U.S. drug distributors AmerisourceBergen, McKesson, and Cardinal Health have reached a $590M settlement with Native American tribes over the opioid crisis.
- Your money matters. Let's make more of it. Stocks are great, but there are many more options now. That's why we've been reading the Alts newsletter.*
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 |  | Vanessa Omeokachie is a Researcher at Inside. Her interests include finance, tech, and startups. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hiking, attending music festivals, and traveling. Connect with her on Twitter @Ms_Omeo. |  | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 Ford. | |
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