Nvidia briefly dethroned Apple as the world’s most valuable company on Friday, after a record rise in shares powered by voracious demand for its new supercomputer AI chips.
Nvidia’s stock market value briefly hit $3.53 trillion in intraday trading, while Apple’s was $3.52 trillion, according to data from LSEG. Nvidia ended the session with a market cap of $3.47 trillion, while Apple held steady.
In June, Nvidia briefly became the world’s most valuable company, before being overtaken by Microsoft and Apple. The tech trio’s market capitalizations have been flat for months. Microsoft’s market value was $3.20 trillion.
Nvidia’s stock market value briefly reached $3.53 trillion. CEO Jensen Huang, above. Reuters
Shares of Nvidia are up about 18% so far in October, with a string of gains coming after OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, announced a $6.6 billion funding round. Nvidia provides chips used to train so-called foundational models such as OpenAI’s GPT-4.
“More companies are now embracing artificial intelligence in their everyday tasks and demand remains strong for Nvidia chips,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
“It’s certainly in a sweet spot, and as long as we avoid a major economic downturn in the United States, there’s a sense that companies will continue to invest heavily in AI capabilities, creating a healthy headwind for Nvidia. “
Shares of Nvidia hit a record high on Tuesday, building on a rally from last week when TSMC, the world’s largest contract chip maker, posted a forecast 54% jump in quarterly profit driven by growth in demand for chips used in AI.
The market caps of Apple, Microsoft and Tim Cook’s Nvidia have been flat for months. ZUMAPRESS.com
The next big test will be when Nvidia reports its third-quarter results in November. Nvidia in August forecast third-quarter revenue of $32.5 billion, plus or minus 2%, compared with the current average analyst expectation of $32.90 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore said in an Oct. 10 note that he remains “very bullish” on the company long-term, but the recent growth “raises the earnings bar somewhat.”
After a meeting with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Moore noted that production growth of its next-generation Blackwell chips appeared to be “pretty strong” and are booked for 12 months. Shares came under pressure in August after Nvidia confirmed reports that production of Blackwell chips was delayed until the fourth quarter.
Shares of Nvidia, Apple and Microsoft have a big influence on the value-rich tech sector as well as the broader US stock market, with the trio accounting for about a fifth of the S&P 500 index’s weight.
The next big test will be when Nvidia reports its third-quarter results in November. Reuters
Frenzy over AI prospects, expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates sharply and, more recently, an upbeat start to the earnings season pushed the benchmark S&P 500 to an all-time high last week.
Nvidia’s massive earnings have helped boost the stock’s appeal to options traders, and the company’s options are among the most traded on any given day in recent months, according to data from options analytics provider Trade Alert.
Shares are up nearly 190% so far this year after a boom in generative AI prompted the company to issue a series of breakout predictions.
“The question is whether the revenue stream will last for a long time and be driven by investor emotion rather than any ability to prove or disprove the thesis that AI is overrated,” said Rick Meckler, partner at Cherry Lane Investments. a family investment office in New Vernon, NJ.
“I think Nvidia knows that roughly, their number is likely to be quite extraordinary.”
Tech behemoth OpenAI has touted its AI-powered transcription tool Whisper as having “human-level robustness and accuracy.”
But Whisper has one major flaw: It’s prone to creating chunks of text or even entire sentences, according to interviews with more than a dozen software engineers, developers and academic researchers. Those experts said some of the made-up lyrics – known in the industry as hallucinations – could include racial slurs, violent rhetoric and even imagined medical treatments.
Experts said such fictions are problematic because Whisper is being used in a host of industries around the world to translate and transcribe interviews, generate text in popular consumer technologies and create captions for videos.
Tech behemoth OpenAI has touted its AI-powered transcription tool Whisper as having “human-level robustness and accuracy.” AP
More troubling, they said, is a rush by medical centers to use Whisper-based tools to transcribe patient consultations with doctors, despite OpenAI’s warnings that the tool should not be used in “high-risk areas.”
The full extent of the problem is hard to discern, but researchers and engineers said they often encounter Whisper’s hallucinations in their work. A University of Michigan researcher conducting a study of public meetings, for example, said he found hallucinations in 8 out of every 10 audio transcriptions he inspected before he began trying to improve the model.
A machine learning engineer said he initially detected hallucinations in about half of the 100-plus hours of Whisper transcripts he analyzed. A third developer said he found hallucinations in nearly every one of the 26,000 transcripts he created with Whisper.
The problems persist even on short, well-recorded audio samples. A recent study by computer scientists found 187 hallucinations in more than 13,000 clear audio fragments they examined.
But Whisper has one major flaw: It’s prone to creating chunks of text or even entire sentences, according to interviews with more than a dozen software engineers, developers and academic researchers. AP
This trend would lead to tens of thousands of erroneous transcriptions over millions of records, the researchers said.
Such mistakes can have “really serious consequences,” especially in hospital settings, said Alondra Nelson, who led the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy for the Biden administration until last year.
“No one wants a misdiagnosis,” said Nelson, a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. “There has to be a higher bar.”
Experts said such fabrications are problematic because Whisper is being used in a host of industries around the world to generate text in popular consumer technologies and create captions for videos. AP
Whisper is also used to create closed captions for the deaf and hard of hearing – a population at particular risk for erroneous transcriptions.
That’s because deaf and hard-of-hearing people have no way of identifying fiction is “hidden among all this other text,” said Christian Vogler, who is deaf and directs Gallaudet University’s Technology Access Program.
OpenAI sought to address the problem
The proliferation of such hallucinations has led experts, advocates and former OpenAI employees to call for the federal government to consider AI regulations. At the very least, they said, OpenAI should address the flaw.
“This seems solvable if the company is willing to prioritize it,” said William Saunders, a San Francisco-based research engineer who left OpenAI in February over concerns with the company’s direction. “It’s problematic if you set this up and people are sure what it can do and integrate it into all these other systems.”
An OpenAI spokesperson said the company is constantly studying how to reduce hallucinations and praised the researchers’ findings, adding that OpenAI incorporates feedback into model updates.
While most developers assume transcription tools misspell words or make other mistakes, engineers and researchers said they’ve never seen another AI-powered transcription tool hallucinate as much as Whisper.
Whisper hallucinations
The tool is integrated into several versions of OpenAI’s flagship chatbot, ChatGPT, and is an integrated offering on Oracle and Microsoft’s cloud computing platforms, which serve thousands of companies worldwide. It is also used to transcribe and translate text in many languages.
Professors Allison Koenecke, from Cornell University, and Mona Sloane from the University of Virginia, examined thousands of short snippets they received from TalkBank. AP
In the last month alone, a recent version of Whisper was downloaded over 4.2 million times by the open source artificial intelligence platform HuggingFace. Sanchit Gandhi, a machine learning engineer there, said Whisper is the most popular open-source speech recognition model and is integrated into everything from call centers to voice assistants.
Professors Allison Koenecke of Cornell University and Mona Sloane of the University of Virginia examined thousands of short excerpts they obtained from TalkBank, a research repository hosted at Carnegie Mellon University. They determined that nearly 40% of hallucinations were harmful or distressing because the speaker could be misinterpreted or misinterpreted.
In one example they discovered, a speaker said: “He, the boy, was going to take the umbrella, I’m not sure exactly.”
The research determined that nearly 40% of hallucinations were harmful or disturbing because the speaker could be misinterpreted or misinterpreted. AP
But the transcription software added: “He took a large part of a cross, a small, small part … I’m sure he didn’t have a terror knife, so he killed a number of people.”
A speaker on another recording described “two more girls and a lady”. Whisper made up additional comments on race, adding “two other girls and a lady, um, who were black.”
In a third transcript, Whisper invented a non-existent drug called “hyperactivated antibiotics”.
Researchers aren’t sure why Whisper and similar tools hallucinate, but software developers said the hallucinations tend to occur between pauses, background sounds or music playing.
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OpenAI recommended in its online findings against using Whisper in “decision-making contexts, where flaws in accuracy can lead to pronounced flaws in results.”
Transcription of appointments with the doctor
That warning hasn’t stopped hospitals or medical centers from using speech-to-text models, including Whisper, to transcribe what’s said during doctor visits to free up medical providers to spend less time taking notes or written reports.
Over 30,000 clinicians and 40 health systems, including the Mankato Clinic in Minnesota and Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles, have begun using a Whisper-based tool built by Nabla, which has offices in France and the US.
That tool was well-suited to medical language to transcribe and summarize patient interactions, said Nabla’s chief technology officer, Martin Raison.
Company officials said they are aware that Whisper can hallucinate and are mitigating the problem.
It’s impossible to compare Nabla’s AI-generated transcript to the original recording because Nabla’s tool deletes the original audio for “data security reasons,” Raison said.
Nabla said the tool has been used to transcribe about 7 million medical visits.
Saunders, the former OpenAI engineer, said the deletion of the original audio can be worrisome if transcripts aren’t double-checked or clinicians can’t access the recording to verify they’re accurate.
“You can’t catch mistakes if you take the truth out of the ground,” he said.
Nabla said no model is perfect and that their model currently requires medical providers to quickly edit and approve transcribed notes, but that could change.
Privacy concerns
Because patients’ appointments with their doctors are confidential, it’s hard to know how the AI-generated transcripts are affecting them.
Koenecke is also the author of a recent study that found hallucinations in a speech-to-text transcription tool. AP
A California state lawmaker, Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, said she took one of her children to the doctor earlier this year and refused to sign a form from the health network that required her permission to share audio of consulting with vendors that included Microsoft Azure. the cloud computing system run by OpenAI’s largest investor. Bauer-Kahan didn’t want such intimate medical conversations shared with tech companies, she said.
“The release was very specific that for-profit companies would be eligible to have this,” said Bauer-Kahan, a Democrat who represents a swath of San Francisco suburbs in the state Assembly. “I was like ‘absolutely not.’”
John Muir Health spokesman Ben Drew said the health system complies with state and federal privacy laws.
High-powered lawyers representing Big Tech clients have co-hosted a series of fundraisers for Kamala Harris’ campaign as the 2024 presidential election approaches — and antitrust watchdogs are crying foul.
Last Thursday, a group of “antitrust lawyers and economists for Harris” held a virtual fundraiser featuring former US Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta. Ticket prices ranged up to $6,600, according to a copy of an invitation obtained by The Post.
Notable co-hosts included Daniel Bitton, a partner at San Francisco-based law firm Axinn, which is defending Google in the Biden-Harris DOJ lawsuit targeting its alleged monopoly over digital advertising.
Other co-chairs included Renata Hesse, who once played down concerns about Google’s monopoly on Internet search; Edith Ramirez, a Democratic former FTC chair who once defended Google-owned YouTube in a children’s privacy lawsuit; and Ethan Glass, who has repped clients like JetBlue against US antitrust complaints.
Kamala Harris’s campaign surrogates have signaled that she will take a more business-friendly stance. ZUMAPRESS.com
“This is a group of ‘Big Law’ lawyers who have represented monopolists against the FTC and the DOJ, and they are brazenly trying to storm the citadel after being shut out during the Biden years,” said a Democrat who focuses on antitrust issues. Post office.
The Post reached out to the campaign of Harris, Bitton, Hesse, Ramirez and Glass for comment, but did not hear back.
Earlier this month, The Post reported on conflict-of-interest concerns that arose after several key members of Google’s legal team co-hosted an Oct. 18 fundraiser for Harris in Washington, D.C. — with tickets costing up to $50,000. dollars.
Karen Dunn, a lead litigator at the white-shoe law firm Paul Weiss who infamously led the preparation of Harris’ last debate against Trump on the same day she gave Google’s opening defense in the digital advertising trial, was listed as co-chair.
Daniel Bitton is part of the team defending Google in the DOJ’s antitrust case targeting its digital advertising business. Axinn
Dunn’s colleagues Jeannie Rhee and Bill Isaacson also attended the event, which featured appearances by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Uber general counsel and Harris’ brother-in-law Tony West and former U.S. Attorney Acting General, Sally Yates.
Just one day later, longtime Amazon general counsel David Zapolsky co-hosted a fundraiser with top Harris campaign surrogate and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, according to a copy of the invitation obtained by The Post.
In California, Newsom recently vetoed an AI security bill that had been heavily lobbied by tech venture firm Andreessen Horowitz and trade groups representing Google and Meta. After initially opposing the bill, Amazon-backed artificial intelligence firm Anthropic expressed lukewarm support for the bill after securing amendments.
Edith Ramirez is listed as co-chairing a fundraiser for the Harris campaign last Thursday. Getty Images
The offensive is taking place as Big Tech firms face an unprecedented wave of antitrust litigation.
Apple and Google are in the midst of landmark Justice Department antitrust cases, while Amazon and Facebook are currently being sued by the Federal Trade Commission. AI leaders such as chip supplier Nvidia and OpenAI also have the attention of regulators.
“It should be deeply troubling to anyone, Republican or Democrat, who cares about reining in Big Tech monopolies that (the Harris campaign) continues to hold fundraisers with lawyers for Google and other big tech companies,” the executive said. of public affairs Garrett Ventry.
Top regulators appointed by the Biden-Harris administration, including FTC Chairman Lina Khan and SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, have faced backlash from Silicon Valley bigwigs for leading a crackdown on prominent firms active in the sectors. of artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies.
Renata Hesse once downplayed concerns about Google’s monopoly on Internet search. Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
In July, billionaire Reid Hoffman sparked outrage among progressives when he accused Khan of waging “war on American business” and openly called on Harris to fire him if elected. Other Democratic attorneys, including Mark Cuban, have called for Gensler to be forced out.
The backlash has contributed to a surprising shift in Silicon Valley support for Trump — most notably in the form of Elon Musk, who recently declared himself a “dark MAGA” and contributed millions to his campaign.
Harris’ campaign has made clear efforts to secure Silicon Valley, a longtime source of support and large donations for Democrats.
Harris’ top replacements such as Cuban and West have stated publicly and behind closed doors that she would take a more friendly stance toward corporate interests if elected.
Karen Dunn (center) and other Google lawyers organized a fundraiser for Kamala Harris earlier this month. Reuters
Cuban, asked by The Post if he had any idea how a Harris administration would handle Big Tech’s antitrust issues, replied, “I don’t.”
Last week, the Washington Post reported that West and former Treasury official Brian Nelson have told groups of tech executives that they are in “listening mode” during private outreach meetings on Harris’ behalf.
Andreesen Horowitz co-founder Ben Horowitz, who previously expressed support for Trump, reversed course last month by pledging a “significant” donation to Harris. Horowitz said he “had several conversations with Vice President Harris and her team about their potential technology policies, and I’m encouraged by my confidence in her.”
Kamala Harris has yet to take a firm stance on how she will approach Big Tech’s antitrust issues. Getty Images
In September, Harris released an economic policy outline that provided arguably the most substantive picture of the policies she would pursue in office.
The 82-page document said a Harris administration would “encourage innovative technologies like artificial intelligence and digital assets while protecting our consumers and investors” — but referred to the word “antitrust only once.”
Some antitrust watchdogs previously warned that corporate-friendly advisers in Harris’ orbit could lobby behind the scenes for leniency toward Google — potentially in the form of a “slap on the wrist” rather than a full divestment sought by the feds.
In August, the DOJ won a landmark victory after Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google was a “monopolist” with an illegal stranglehold on the Internet search market. He is expected to decide on remedies by next summer – and the feds have floated a forced sale of Google’s Android software or the Chrome browser as possible fixes.
Meanwhile, closing arguments in the DOJ’s digital advertising antitrust case are expected to conclude in November. Google chief Sundar Pichai has admitted that he expects the company to be involved in antitrust litigation and appeals for “many years”.
Bald-faced liars are also more likely to be adulterers.
Are you bald with a big nose in your 40s? You’re more likely to cheat on your partner, according to an AI-generated profile of what a typical philanderer looks like.
“We shed light on the physical traits associated with those who are prone to cheating,” said Rosie Maskel, a senior marketing executive at online casino MrQ, which conducted the scandalous study, Kennedy News reported.
What the typical male cheater looks like, according to an AI-generated description based on a study by online casino MrQ. Kennedy News and Media
The digital betting site reportedly surveyed 2,000 Britons – many of whom had been cheated on in the boudoir – to find out what attributes cheaters had in common.
They then fed the results to an AI-powered image generator to create a “photo-fit” description of the average fraudster.
The artist’s description of AI showed a man in his 40s with blue-gray eyes, sparse or no hair, and frown lines. Throw in small lips and bigger schnoz, and you’ve got the poster child for someone who sleeps next to their spouse, according to the study.
Their female counterpart, according to the illustration, was in her early fifties and had dark hair with a small nose and medium-sized nostrils.
Both the male and female scammers were described as having a thin build and “staring eyes”.
“Our research showed that just under half (41%) [of people] are familiar with this painful betrayal, so it may be that many identify with the characteristics in these images,” said Maskel.
According to the study, the typical female cheater is a dark-haired woman in her 50s. “We’ve shed light on the physical traits associated with those who are prone to cheating,” said Rosie Maskel, a senior marketing executive at online casino MrQ, which conducted the scandalous study. Kennedy News and Media
However, perhaps the profile of the male cheater was more accurate given the larger sample size.
The study found that men are far more likely to cheat than women, with 35% of men admitting to having cheated at least once compared to just 24% of women.
Women are more likely to stay with their adulterous soul mates after catching them astray. More than a fifth (22%) stayed with their unfaithful partner for at least two more years, while only one in ten (13%) of scorned boys did the same.
Meanwhile, a whopping 2% of people married their boss after discovering they were sleeping around.
As the description of the typical unfaithful man attests, the drama of adultery does not subside in middle age.
Those aged 45-54 are among the most likely to have cheated at least once. More than one in three (35%) admitted to cheating on their partners, while 54% of 45-54 year olds revealed that they had either been the victim or perpetrator of infidelity.
Coincidentally, the study found that cheating generally peaks around the fall, so lovebirds should stay alert now — especially if their other half possesses the aforementioned physical characteristics.
Of course, the odds of scoring an extramarital booty are more than skin deep, according to the marketing executive.
“Obviously, it’s important to note that these are based on statistical analysis and will not apply to all individuals,” Maskel said. “People’s behavior is determined by their decisions and actions, not by how they look.”
Professional “honey trapper” Madeline Smith recently discovered some tell-tale behaviors that could indicate a man is having sex on the side, including hiding phones, neglecting to include photos of his significant other on social media and using Snapchat.
Google parent Alphabet topped third-quarter earnings and revenue on Tuesday, helped by a 35% AI-driven increase in its cloud business, as well as a rise in its digital advertising revenue.
Alphabet shares, which closed up 1.8% on Tuesday, rose 4.4% in after-hours trading. Shares are up nearly 22% this year, in line with the broader market.
CEO Sundar Pichai said AI investments were “paying off” through usage and sales in its Search and Cloud businesses.
CEO Sundar Pichai said investments in AI were “paying off.” AFP via Getty Images
Perceived as slow to catch up with Big Tech rival Microsoft in the AI race, Google has improved its Gemini AI chatbot and made more improvements to its AI search offering. The company is continuing to spend heavily on AI.
Its new chief financial officer, Anat Ashkenazi, making her first call with analysts, said Alphabet’s capital spending in 2025 would be higher than this year.
In the third quarter, Alphabet’s equity rose 62% to $13 billion. The fourth quarter is expected to be similar, she said.
Revenue from Google’s cloud platform rose to $11.35 billion, beating analysts’ estimate of $10.86 billion.
It was the fastest pace of growth in eight quarters, thanks to enterprises doubling their cloud spending, which is key to powering artificial intelligence technologies.
“I think it was an impressive quarter because the fact that Google Cloud was able to more than offset the decline in Search speaks to both the growing importance of cloud revenue and the fact that the company continues to diversify its revenue base, ” said Bob O’Donnell. president of TECHnalysis Research.
Revenue rose 15% to $88.27 billion, beating analysts’ estimates. AP
Google has rolled out AI Summaries ads, which use generative AI to aggregate content from a variety of sources and display concise results for search queries.
Analysts said users find the company’s new AI tools more effective than before — a significant improvement from earlier this year when the feature drew heavy criticism for showing incorrect answers, including a pizza recipe that listed glue as an ingredient.
According to LSEG, Alphabet beat earnings expectations with earnings of $2.12 per share, compared to an average market estimate of $1.85.
In the third quarter, Alphabet’s capital spending rose 62% to $13 billion. The fourth quarter is expected to be similar. Getty Images
Digital ad sales — the largest share of Alphabet’s total revenue — rose to $65.85 billion from $59.65 billion. That includes YouTube ad sales that rose 12% to $8.92 billion but slowed from the second quarter.
Google’s dominant position in the digital ad market has helped attract marketing dollars, even as TikTok and Amazon make inroads with marketers. Quarterly results also got a boost from increased political spending ahead of the presidential election and the 2024 Paris Olympics that ended in August.
Social media company Snap, which also depends on advertising, posted good news for shareholders, topping Wall Street’s targets for quarterly revenue and user growth, sending shares up 6% in after-hours trading. of work.
Alphabet’s total revenue rose 15% to $88.27 billion in the July-September period, while analysts on average were expecting $86.30 billion, according to LSEG data.
Robotics company Boston Dynamics has released a new video of its Atlas humanoid robot – now performing tasks with zero human intervention.
In the video released by the futuristic lab – the robot can be seen performing physical tasks by rote with ease and without any help from the humans driving it.
The Atlas humanoid robot from Boston Dynamics is hard at work demonstrating the breadth of its new capabilities. Boston Dynamics/YouTube
The bolt-on bag moves the engine covers between shipping containers and during navigation with a mobile sorting dolly — simulating what it would be like to work in a factory, according to the video’s caption.
The company emphasized that the humanoid is “Fully Autonomous” – using machine learning vision modeling to adapt to changing conditions.
The video includes footage of what Atlas sees as it performs its tasks – revealing a somewhat fish-eye field of view that includes sharp recognition of the objects it’s handling.
The Atlas was able to complete mundane tasks without human intervention by being powered by a fully electric motor. Boston Dynamics/YouTube
“There are no prescribed or teleoperated movements; all movements are generated autonomously online. The robot is able to detect and react to changes in the environment as well,” explained the engineers from Boston Dynamics.
Earlier this month, Boston Dynamics introduced the world to Atlas – whose head is vaguely reminiscent of the Pixar lamp.
Atlas is intended for commercial use and is designed to handle “real-world applications,” according to Boston Dynamics. In the video, the cable worker shows that he can be fully functional when left to his own devices, as he is simply presented with a “list of bin locations.”
This new version of Atlas is now also fully electric, allowing for a wider range of motion than previous generations of humanoids, the company said on their website.
This all-electric model is a departure from previous versions that operated using hydraulics.
Atlas is able to identify the objects it sees, shown here as the part it’s moving is highlighted in blue (left) in its field of vision. Boston Dynamics/YouTube
Social media called out Atlas for being creepy — specifically, in a video posted on X, the robot stands up by placing its legs behind its head and stands up and inverts its body while reorienting its spine.
This new breakthrough comes after Elon Musk’s Tesla unveiled the new Optimus humanoid robot.
At the unveiling ceremony earlier this month, Optimus models were sipping pints and mingling with guests in shrill conversational tones – in part because the ‘worlds were being remotely controlled by humans.
The Post reported that experts say it will take a decade before robots are released and functioning in society.
Facebook owner Meta Platforms beat analysts’ estimates for third-quarter revenue and profit on Wednesday, but warned of “significant acceleration” in artificial intelligence-related infrastructure spending.
The results sent mixed signals to investors about whether digital ad sales from Meta’s core social media business would continue to cover the cost of its massive AI build.
Shares of the Menlo Park, California-based firm fell 2.9% in after-hours trading.
Facebook parent Meta warned of “significant acceleration” in infrastructure spending related to its AI build. Above, CEO Mark Zuckerberg wearing Orion AR glasses. Reuters
“Meta needs to prove it can continue to cover its AI costs as they rise next year, and any weakness in its core advertising business could make investors nervous as they continue to wait for a return on higher bets Meta’s AI giants,” said the director of Emarketer. analyst Jasmine Enberg.
Like its Big Tech peers, Meta has invested heavily in data centers to take advantage of the generative AI boom. Unlike cloud service providers, however, it does not expect to monetize these investments immediately and is therefore subject to more scrutiny from investors about its spending.
The world’s largest social media company, led by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, kept costs under control in the third quarter, with total expenses of $23.2 billion and capital expenditures of $9.2 billion. He projected a slightly improved spending picture for the year as well, narrowing the total spending forecast to $96 billion to $98 billion.
In its press release, however, it warned of “a significant acceleration in infrastructure spending growth next year as we recognize higher growth in depreciation and operating expenses of our expanding infrastructure fleet.”
Investors have been wary of Meta’s spending in recent months. Its shares sank in April after it revealed a higher-than-expected spending forecast, knocking $200 billion off its stock market value.
That capped a string of strong quarters for Meta, which has bounced back from a share price slump in 2022 by trimming its workforce, building on investor enthusiasm for AI and earlier this year issuing a dividend of her first ever.
Advertising accounts for the vast majority of Meta’s revenue, meaning higher marketing spend during the holiday season could provide a crucial boost to the company’s bottom line. AP
Meta’s earnings follow encouraging results from digital ad companies Alphabet and Snap, both of which beat third-quarter revenue estimates on Tuesday thanks in part to growth in AI-assisted ad sales.
Meta reported third-quarter earnings of $6.03 per share, compared with estimates of $5.25 per share, according to data compiled by LSEG. Third-quarter revenue came in at $40.59 billion, compared with analysts’ estimates of $40.29 billion.
The company also forecast fourth-quarter revenue of between $45 billion and $48 billion, compared with analysts’ estimates of $46.31 billion, according to data from LSEG.
According to analysts, advertising accounts for the vast majority of Meta’s revenue, meaning higher marketing spending during the holiday season could provide a crucial boost to the company’s bottom line.
Meta’s earnings follow encouraging results from digital ad companies Alphabet and Snap, both of which beat third-quarter revenue estimates on Tuesday thanks in part to growth in AI-assisted ad sales. Reuters
Meta’s daily active people (DAP), a metric it uses to track unique users who open one of its apps in a day, rose 5% in the third quarter to 3.29 billion. DAP increased by 7% in the previous June quarter, to ALL 3.27 billion.
Meta is well-positioned to squeeze more revenue from users as user growth slows, given its AI tools to show people more content that matches their interests, Enberg said.
The company’s Reality Labs division, which makes the Quest virtual reality headset, EssilorLuxottica’s Ray-Ban smart glasses and upcoming augmented reality glasses, lost $4.4 billion in the third quarter, narrower than analysts’ estimates. for a loss of 4.7 billion dollars.
