Meta shares fell more than 22% on Thursday morning after the Facebook parent company reported a 4% drop in revenue for the last quarter. Since reporting its quarterly results on Wednesday, the company has lost more than one-fifth of its market value. Moving forward, it plans to make "significant changes," including a pullback in hiring, to operate more efficiently. Meta also expects accelerating losses at its AR/VR unit focused on the metaverse. More: - Q3 marked the second consecutive quarter of declining revenue for Meta.
- It posted Q3 revenue of $27.71B, higher than analysts' estimates of $27.4B, but down 4% from the $29B it brought in a year earlier.
- At $4.4B, net income was down 52% from the year prior.
- The company has attributed its slowing growth to the strong dollar, growing competition, Apple's ad-tracking changes, and macroeconomic conditions affecting digital advertiser spending.
What's next: - Meta has forecasted revenue of $30B to $32.5B for the current quarter, a decrease from a year earlier.
- It said it is “holding some teams flat in terms of headcount, shrinking others, and investing headcount growth only in our highest priorities.”
Metaverse ambitions: - Quarterly sales at Meta's Reality Labs, its metaverse unit, were $285M, far below the estimated $426M, and nearly half what they were from a year earlier.
- The unit has so far lost $9.4B in 2022.
- Meta said it expects the unit's operating losses next year to grow “significantly year-over-year.”
- During a call with analysts, CEO Mark Zuckerberg reaffirmed the company's metaverse ambitions.
- He acknowledged that many people "might disagree with this investment," but said people may “look back decades from now” and “talk about the importance of the work" that the company is doing in AR/VR and the metaverse.
- Meta will release its next-generation Quest headset for consumers in the latter part of 2023, according to CFO Dave Wehner.
CNBC 
| |
Elon Musk told Twitter employees that he has no plans to lay off 75% of the company's workforce, refuting a previous report that he planned to do so once the Twitter acquisition goes through, according to Bloomberg. Musk's $44B deal to acquire the social media platform is on track to close on the deadline of Friday. More: - Last week, The Washington Post reported that Musk told investors he planned to lay off 75% of Twitter's 7,500-person staff.
- On Wednesday, Musk reportedly addressed Twitter employees at its San Francisco headquarters, where he denied the 75% figure, a source told Bloomberg.
- Musk also tweeted a video of him carrying a kitchen sink as he entered the offices, with the caption "Let that sink in." He also altered his Twitter profile to describe himself as "Chief Twit."
- Reports said Musk is still expected to cut some staff after the deal goes through. Twitter was already planning to cut its workforce by 25%, according to The Post.
BLOOMBERG
| |
 A message from SECURITY COMPASS The only secure developer training that is accredited by (ISC)² Our role-based, language-specific, secure developer training meets developers where they are in their knowledge and learning style to ensure they successfully develop and apply secure coding skills. Go beyond secure coding training. Retain talent, remain competitive, and stay compliant. We offer over 49 courses covering topics including: ● Defending AWS, .NET, Angular, Java, and more ● DevSecOps Fundamentals and DevSecOps for Managers ● Defending Containers, Kubernetes, Docker ● Secure Software Requirements, Design, Testing Explore language-specific, role-based, (ISC)² accredited secure developer training. Visit our page to browse our curriculum, try a free course, or speak to the team. Start Free Trial
| |
Following complaints from developers and users, Apple said it will pause advertisements for gambling apps on its App Store. The ads appeared in new slots that Apple debuted this week under a "You Might Also Like" section. More: - The "You Might Also Like" section allows developers to promote their apps on the pages of other apps.
- The ads are shown at the bottom of listings and show suggestion cards for similar apps.
- However, some developers noticed that gambling app ads would appear in that section as recommendations, even when their own app was not related to gambling.
- According to Apple Insider, the controversial apps sometimes appeared alongside apps for children and even apps for gambling addiction recovery.
- On Wednesday, Apple told MacRumors that it has "paused ads related to gambling and a few other categories on App Store product pages," without providing further details.
MACRUMORS
| |
Samsung Electronics has named heir and de facto leader, Lee Jae-yong, as its executive chairman. Lee, previously vice chairman of the tech giant, succeeds his father, Lee Kun-hee, who led the company until he was incapacitated by a heart attack in 2014. More: - The older Lee, the youngest son of Samsung's founder, died in 2020.
- The younger Lee, who goes by Jay Y. Lee in the West, has served as Samsung’s de-facto leader for many years.
- In 2017, he was convicted of bribery and other charges after he was found guilty of bribing South Korea’s former president and an associate over a merger deal.
- Lee was released from prison on parole in August 2021 after serving 207 days, a little over half of the sentence.
- In August, a presidential pardon cleared Lee's record, erasing his five-year employment ban and allowing him to assume former control of the company.
- In explaining Lee's appointment, Samsung's board cited an "uncertain global business environment and the pressing need for stronger accountability and business stability."
Related: - Samsung announced Lee's formal title on the same day that it reported its Q3 earnings.
- Its operating profit fell more than 31%, its first decline in three years, amid the downturn in the semiconductor memory market.
THE VERGE
| |
 A message from LAIKA If you’re trying to close deals, SOC 2 is probably a thorn in your side. What is it, and who cares? Your business needs SOC 2. But building compliance from scratch is complicated, time-consuming, and the cost can be crippling. Laika has you covered. Uncomplicate SOC 2 with our guide for growth-minded founders. In the guide by Laika you’ll learn: - What is SOC 2 compliance and why it matters for your startup
- How to close more deals faster by becoming SOC 2 compliant
- How to prepare for SOC 2 compliance
- What to expect in terms of time and cost
- What to do after the report is in
What makes Laika the authority on SOC 2? They’re the only compliance automation solution that was built by compliance experts. Learn how to turn compliance from a pain point into a secret edge over your competitors. Download Now 
| |
Ford and Volkswagen are backing out of Argo AI, their autonomous vehicle joint venture, according to TechCrunch. Argo AI is shutting down operations after it lost the support of its financial backers and failed to secure other investors. More: - Argo AI's resources, including some employees and its technology, will now be absorbed by Ford and VW.
- During a meeting on Wednesday, Argo AI's employees were told that Ford and VW would extend offers to an undisclosed number of employees.
- Argo, a spinoff from Carnegie Mellon University, was founded in 2016. A builder of technology for self-driving vehicles, it secured investments of $1B from Ford in 2017 and $2.6B from Volkswagen in 2020.
- On Wednesday, Ford reported its Q3 earnings, saying it would wind down Argo's operations and offer positions to its "talented engineers."
- Ford said it will shift its focus from Argo's L4 advanced driver assistance systems to its own internal L2+ and L3 technology.
TECHCRUNCH
| |
Microsoft's release of an Xbox game streaming console likely remains "years away," Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said during Wednesday's Wall Street Journal’s Tech Live conference. The device would stream Xbox games through the cloud without a console. More: - Spencer confirmed that Microsoft was once incubating a streaming console, codenamed Keystone, but has since pivoted away to work with Samsung.
- "We put an app on Samsung TVs that let you play Xbox games, and I still have the prototype; it sits on the shelf behind my computer," he said.
- Spencer said he suspects Microsoft will still offer a game streaming device at some point, but he thinks "it's years away."
- Reports have said that the Chromecast-like dongle would enable players to access games on Microsoft's Xbox Cloud Gaming service and would connect to TVs or monitors, eliminating the need for a console.
THE VERGE
| |
QUICK HITS - Scale up with this toolkit and get your brand on everyone’s wishlist.*
- Intel spun out its autonomous vehicle technology company Mobileye, which raised $861M in its initial public offering on Wednesday.
- Computer vision startup Trigo announced $100M in new equity financing to fund its technology that brings a check-out-free experience to supermarkets.
- HaptX's next-gen "G1 Gloves" haptic gloves are now available for preorder.
*This is a sponsored post
| |
UPCOMING EVENTS - October 25 - Meet Our Fund 4, an Inside.com Summit (Register Here)
- November 02 - AMA with Bill Glenn (Executive Chairman at Crenshaw Associates) (Register Here)
- November 09 - Synthetic data for more efficient, robust and ethical model development - Live AMA with Yashar Behzadi (CEO and Founder of Synthesis AI)* (Register Here)
- December 07 - Live AMA with Deividi Silva ( Head of Developer Relations at Gun.io) (Register Here)
*This is a sponsored listing
| |
 |  | Beth is a writer and editor at Inside.com covering artificial intelligence and daily technology news. You can reach her at Beth.Duckett@inside.com. |   | | Editor | Eduardo Garcia is a writer and editor based in New York. He is the author of "Things You Can Do," an illustrated book about climate action. Bylines in The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Scientific American, and others. In one of his previous lives, Eduardo worked as a Reuters correspondent in Latin America for nearly a decade. | |
Security Compass delivers best-practice, role-based, accredited eLearning solutions. | |
Laika is a unified compliance platform that automates workflows for audits, infosec monitoring, and vendor due diligence in a single, collaborative space. | |
Comments
Post a Comment