Milestone alert: Facebook now has around a quarter of the world’s population, with 2 billion users

The number of Facebook users reached two billion in December 2022, accounting for roughly a quarter of the world’s population. This comes after Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg declared that 2022 was a “challenging” year for his company. This higher-than-expected increase contributed to renewed optimism about the corporation, which has been under pressure as costs and advertising sales have fallen.

The stock of Facebook’s parent company, Meta, rose more than 15%

The stock of Facebook’s parent company, Meta, rose more than 15% in after-hours trading after Zuckerberg proclaimed 2023 the “year of efficiency” and indicated he was focused on greater savings.

“We’re in a different environment now,” Zuckerberg added, referring to the company’s revenue, which fell for the first time in its history in 2022 after years of double-digit growth.

“We don’t anticipate that that’s going to continue, but I also don’t think it’s going to go back to the way it was before.”

Meta, Facebook’s parent corporation, also owns Instagram and WhatsApp. It announced a substantial restructuring last year, including a reduction in office space and the elimination of 11,000 employees, or around 13% of the workforce. The company justified its decision, which helped them save $4.6 billion last year, cutting profits in half. It still made $23.2 billion in profit for the year.

“2022 was a challenging year but I think we ended it having made good progress”, Mr. Zuckerberg said.

Revenue for the three months ending December was $32.2 billion, a 4% decrease year on year. However, this was better than many analysts had predicted.

Last year, investors were spooked by Facebook’s first-ever fall in daily Facebook users

Last year, investors were spooked by Facebook’s first-ever fall in daily Facebook users, which signified that the company was focusing more on investments in virtual reality, known as the metaverse. However, the number of visitors to the site increased by 4% year on year in December, with new users coming from Europe, the United States, and Canada.

According to Meta, the number of individuals active across all of its apps each day has increased by 5% year on year.

Zuckerberg stated that the firm was making success with its video product, Reels, which it has been focusing on as it competes with TikTok, which has gained appeal, particularly among younger users. Mr. Zuckerberg stated that his efforts were beginning to bear fruit, with ad dollars following visitors to the videos.

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