Meta posts $22.8B profit on $60B revenue, fueled by AI spending and record daily users, sending shares up 10% after hours
SAN FRANCISCO: Meta reported quarterly earnings that topped market expectations, sending its shares up more than 10% in after-market trades.
The parent company of Facebook and Instagram made a profit of $22.8 billion on revenue of nearly $60 billion in the recently ended quarter.
“We had strong business performance in 2025,” Meta co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said in an earnings release.
The company said it could take in as much as $56.5 billion in the current quarter.
Some 3.58 billion people used apps owned by Meta daily during the quarter, according to the social networking giant.
Meanwhile costs tallied $35.15 billion, an increase of 40% from the same period a year earlier.
Capital expenses, including infrastructure such as data centres to power AI, were $22.14 billion in the quarter.
Meta added that it anticipates capital expenditures in the $115 billion to $135 billion range this fiscal year.
This is driven by increased investment in Meta Superintelligence Labs and its core business.
“I’m looking forward to advancing personal superintelligence for people around the world in 2026,” Zuckerberg said.
Zuckerberg has predicted that AI-infused smart glasses will be the “next major computing platform,” eventually replacing the smartphone.
But Reality Labs, Meta’s virtual and augmented reality unit, has consistently posted big losses.
Meta is locked in a bitter rivalry with other tech behemoths racing to invest heavily in AI.
Most analysts believe Meta will make the investment pay off by improving advertising efficiency and creating new opportunities.
The earnings report came as a landmark trial accusing Meta of being among tech firms addicting young people to social media gets underway in Los Angeles.
The case being heard in California state court is being called a “bellwether” proceeding.
Its outcome could set the tone for a tidal wave of similar litigation across the United States.
Snap and TikTok-parent ByteDance have negotiated settlements to avoid the trial.
This leaves Meta and Alphabet’s YouTube as the remaining defendants, with Zuckerberg slated to be called as a witness.
The case focuses on allegations that a 19-year-old woman suffered severe mental harm because she was addicted to social media.
Social media firms are accused in hundreds of lawsuits of addicting young users to content that has led to depression and other harms.
Internet titans have argued that they are shielded by Section 230 of the US Communications Decency Act.
However, this case argues those firms are culpable for business models designed to hold people’s attention.
Meta and YouTube have rejected the allegations.
