Facebook parent Meta's profit drops 52%; revenue declines for second consecutive quarter

Facebook parent Meta on Wednesday reported that its revenue declined for a second consecutive quarter, hurt by falling advertising revenue.

The quarter's weak results raised fresh questions about whether Meta's plans to spend $10 billion a year on the metaverse, a concept that doesn't quite exist yet and possibly never will, is prudent.

Meta's disappointing results followed weak earnings reports from Google parent Alphabet Inc. and Microsoft this week.

The Menlo Park, California, company earned $4.4 billion, or $1.64 per share, in the three month period that ended Sept 30.

That's down 52% from, $9.19 billion, or $3.22 per share, in the same period a year earlier.

Analysts were expecting a profit of $1.90 per share, on average, according to FactSet.

Revenue fell 4% to $27.71 billion from $29.01 billion, slightly higher than the $27.4 billion that analysts had predicted.

Some of the company's investors are concerned Meta is spending too much money and confusing people with its focus on the metaverse, a virtual, mixed and augmented reality concept that few people understand, while it also grapples with a weakening advertising business.

Meta also forecast weaker-than-expected revenue for the current quarter, further raising worries that the revenue decline is more of a trend than an aberration.

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