Social media giant Meta Platforms posted better-than-expected numbers in the first quarter, with revenue surging 16% from a year ago to reach $42.3 billion, lifting shares in after-hours trading.
The results showed advertising dollars continuing to fill Meta’s coffers despite significant macroeconomic uncertainty.
Shares in Meta climbed 4% after hours. They have slumped 6% in 2025.
Earnings per share came in at $6.43, well above Wall Street analysts’ consensus expectation for $5.22. The Street had set the revenue bar at $41.4 billion.
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Total daily active users across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp rose 6% over the prior-year quarter.
Meta is in the vanguard of tech giants reporting earnings against a backdrop of significant turbulence in the global economy. Alphabet last week delivered stellar quarterly numbers, but Spotify and Snap Inc. were both wobbly on Tuesday. The tech companies indicated a high degree of uncertainty about operations in the second quarter and beyond due to on-again/off-again tariffs imposed by the Trump Administration.
For Meta in particular, the earnings release comes at a delicate moment. The Federal Trade Commission has filed an antitrust lawsuit, insisting that Instagram and WhatsApp should be spun off from the company. The case has been unfolding over the past couple of weeks at a federal courthouse in Washington, D.C.
MORE to come …
