On Wednesday, Big Tech was split in two, with firms that have fantastic data and others that don’t, after Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc (FB.O) reported dismal quarterly earnings, citing Apple’s (AAPL.O) privacy measures for making it harder for advertisers.
Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) had reported an unexpectedly successful quarter a day before, thanks to record sales of advertising that leverages Google’s search data to target adverts.
“It’s two-tiered,” said Gene Munster of investment firm Loup Ventures, who called Apple’s devices and Google’s search service foundations of the internet. “Facebook continues to see that impact of what it means to be built on top of Apple,” he said, noting that Apple’s privacy changes have had a bigger impact on Facebook than he expected.
Meta’s revenue and forecast miss sent the social media company’s shares down 20% in after-hours trade on Wednesday, upending a sector-wide positive outlook on the results from Apple and Alphabet.
Meta is significantly investing in the metaverse, which combines the real and virtual worlds for work and leisure, and in the latest quarter, the tech giant cited competition as a hurdle.
Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft (MSFT.O), and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD.O) have issued optimistic outlooks in the last two weeks, instilling investor confidence in the sector’s growth potential.
