Meta reported third-quarter revenue of $64.60 billion on 21 October, up 26% from $51.24 billion a year earlier and above the $63.34 billion expected by Wall Street analysts, Yahoo Finance reported. On a call with analysts after the July–September results, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said more than 10 million people in the US and Canada had set up accounts for Muse, Meta’s personal AI agent for tasks including schedules and shopping.
Key points
- Meta reported net income of $9.86 billion, including the effect of a $9.89 billion charge.
- Zuckerberg said about 25% of people who set up Muse use it on any given day.
- Meta expects to improve Muse’s cost efficiency by more than tenfold over the next year.
- The company forecasts current-quarter revenue of $73 billion to $76 billion.
Meta’s $9.89 billion charge
Net income was $9.86 billion, or $3.83 per share, compared with $2.71 billion, or $1.05 per share, a year earlier. Meta said a $9.89 billion charge tied to an August settlement affected the latest quarter. Excluding that charge, earnings would have been $7.40 per share, the company said. The year-earlier quarter included a one-off tax charge of nearly $16 billion.
The revenue growth came from Meta’s established business alongside its investment in Muse. Coinpedia attributed the increase mainly to demand for advertising on Meta’s social platforms and premium ad pricing. It put the Wall Street revenue estimate at $63.37 billion, against the $63.34 billion reported by Yahoo Finance.
Coinpedia reported third-quarter capital expenditure of $34.91 billion, up from $31.08 billion in the previous quarter, following AI investments. Meta’s family of apps — Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp — averaged 3.64 billion daily active users, up 3% from a year earlier. Those apps remain the scale against which Zuckerberg is setting out Muse’s commercial ambitions.
Muse accounts, shopping and computing costs
Zuckerberg’s figure concerned accounts set up in the US and Canada after Muse’s August launch. France 24 described Muse as having gained 10 million users in six weeks. TechCrunch described the figure as more than 10 million users.
Zuckerberg said about 25% of people who had set up Muse used it on any given day. AI Affairs previously reported that Muse passed 10 million US downloads in its first 40 days. Downloads and the accounts discussed on the earnings call are different measures.
Shopping is one use Meta is trying to turn into revenue. Zuckerberg said more than a quarter of engaged Muse users who were shopping through the agent had an average purchase size above $200. AI Affairs reported an 8% rise in Shopify shares when Muse added Shop Pay checkout.
Meta intends to keep Muse free for most users, take a share of commerce conducted through it and charge heavier users for additional access, TechCrunch reported. Zuckerberg said the agent requires substantial computing power. He expects its cost efficiency to improve by more than tenfold over the next year, allowing Muse to become profitable once revenue reaches scale. He also said Meta was building infrastructure intended to support more than a billion people over the next several years.
Meta forecasts $73 billion to $76 billion
Zuckerberg expects Muse eventually to generate more revenue per user than Meta’s family of apps does now, TechCrunch reported. He put revenue from those existing apps at around “several hundreds of dollars annually” per user. The proposed commerce share and paid access would have to support that ambition alongside the computing costs he described.
Meta forecasts current-quarter revenue of $73 billion to $76 billion, against analysts’ expectation of $73.65 billion. The forecast follows a July–September quarter in which revenue exceeded the Wall Street estimate despite the charge that reduced reported earnings.
