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As usual, people making a fool out of themselves by confusing "Facebook is no longer cool" with actual value. Half the adults on this planet use a Meta product

by fleddr 4y ago

As usual, people making a fool out of themselves by confusing "Facebook is no longer cool" with actual value. Half the adults on this planet use a Meta product DAILY, and they added some 3% to it in an incredibly difficult environment. The only interesting thing in the results are the lower ad prices.

pclmulqdq 4y ago
The real question is how many of those people are getting off the social networks, which are highly monetized, in exchange for people who are joining WhatsApp, which is nearly un-monetized. If Facebook and Instagram are losing the eyeballs of rich young people, and instead the DAUs are Indians and Latin Americans (as far as I know, these are the demographics on WhatsApp) with a lot less disposable income, those ad dollars are going to run away fast. It looks like that shift has begun to happen, with the reductions in ad prices and the increase in sales expenses for less revenue.
SilverBirch 4y ago
I think you're taking this too much at face value. Facebook is no longer cool, sure. But Meta platforms have basically peaked, they aren't adding significant numbers of users, and they're going to struggle to monetize those users due to a number of headwinds - decreased ad spend due to the economic environment, the changes made on iOS, a change app-mix to less monetizable apps (it's harder to monetize Whatsapp vs Instagram), and the fact that they're flat to down in the markets that actually have money (US, Canada, Europe). Meanwhile, their costs are through the roof, they're spending billions on a market segment that may not exist and the executive leadership at the company isn't focused on the core business. Meta just running their social media business would be a good dividend stock. They probably are transitioning away from growth to a mature company and can take a lot of profits off the table. But "Meta we're going to chase another home run" is both not a growth but also a bad mature stock...
parkingrift 4y ago
The problem with Meta is they can’t innovate. Facebook, now Meta, have achieved all of their growth through acquisitions. Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus, and Giphy. The days of Meta making huge acquisitions are over. The world governments aren’t going to allow it. So now Meta will actually have to innovate to compete. And what are they up to? Copying features from TikTok. Losing $2.5 billion per quarter on VR while making little to no progress. WhatsApp is the biggest moat, but it’s also the hardest to monetize, and Meta has given no evidence that they can fend off a challenger without acquiring their way out. Good luck to anyone holding Meta stock. They won’t be able to buy their way out of this, not this time.

by fleddr 4y ago

pclmulqdq 4y ago

The real question is how many of those people are getting off the social networks, which are highly monetized, in exchange for people who are joining WhatsApp, which is nearly un-monetized. If Facebook and Instagram are losing the eyeballs of rich young people, and instead the DAUs are Indians and Latin Americans (as far as I know, these are the demographics on WhatsApp) with a lot less disposable income, those ad dollars are going to run away fast. It looks like that shift has begun to happen, with the reductions in ad prices and the increase in sales expenses for less revenue.

SilverBirch 4y ago

I think you're taking this too much at face value. Facebook is no longer cool, sure. But Meta platforms have basically peaked, they aren't adding significant numbers of users, and they're going to struggle to monetize those users due to a number of headwinds - decreased ad spend due to the economic environment, the changes made on iOS, a change app-mix to less monetizable apps (it's harder to monetize Whatsapp vs Instagram), and the fact that they're flat to down in the markets that actually have money (US, Canada, Europe). Meanwhile, their costs are through the roof, they're spending billions on a market segment that may not exist and the executive leadership at the company isn't focused on the core business. Meta just running their social media business would be a good dividend stock. They probably are transitioning away from growth to a mature company and can take a lot of profits off the table. But "Meta we're going to chase another home run" is both not a growth but also a bad mature stock...

parkingrift 4y ago

The problem with Meta is they can’t innovate. Facebook, now Meta, have achieved all of their growth through acquisitions. Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus, and Giphy. The days of Meta making huge acquisitions are over. The world governments aren’t going to allow it. So now Meta will actually have to innovate to compete. And what are they up to? Copying features from TikTok. Losing $2.5 billion per quarter on VR while making little to no progress. WhatsApp is the biggest moat, but it’s also the hardest to monetize, and Meta has given no evidence that they can fend off a challenger without acquiring their way out. Good luck to anyone holding Meta stock. They won’t be able to buy their way out of this, not this time.