Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta Platforms set a stock market record Friday, adding $200 billion in market value in a single trading day on the heels of a knockout earnings report.
The 20% rise in the tech giant’s stock price, to an all-time high of $474.99, followed the company’s stellar fourth-quarter earnings report on Thursday afternoon. Revenue for the period ending December 31 shot up 25% year-over-year to $40.1 billion, driven by growth in ad impressions across the company’s social media portfolio, which now reaches 4 billion users a month.
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Total revenue and earnings per share both exceeded Wall Street forecasts. Adding to the positive news, the company announced a stock buyback and its first-ever shareholder dividend, in the amount of 50 cents. CEO Mark Zuckerberg‘s declaration a year ago that 2023 would be “the year of efficiency” helped boost shares in recent months, as the company implemented a 22% reduction in its workforce.
According to Bloomberg data, the gains from the stock rally are the most by any company in a single trading day. Meta’s market value is now more than $1.2 trillion, making it one of a handful of companies with the highest value in the public markets.
The stock surge helped improve the company’s narrative as the week drew to a close. On Wednesday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg got an earful from members of the U.S. Senate and stood to offer an awkward apology for the company’s role in harming children, the focus of the Senate committee hearing.
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