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Meta, Microsoft beat third quarter earnings expectations amid AI push

Oct 30, 2024, 5:09pm EDT
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Tech giants Meta and Microsoft both reported higher-than-expected revenue this latest quarter, with company leaders pointing to their respective expansion into artificial intelligence and AI-related services.

Meta’s revenue clocked in at $40.59 billion Wednesday, beating analysts’ predictions of about $40.29 billion, translating to a 19% year-on-year growth. Microsoft reported $65.59 billion in revenue during that three-month period, easily clearing the expected $64.51 billion, representing a 16% increase from the previous year.

“We had a good quarter driven by AI progress across our apps and business,” said Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “We also have strong momentum with Meta AI, Llama adoption, and AI-powered glasses.”

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Microsoft, meanwhile, pointed to its cloud services revenue that was up 33% this quarter, with 12 percentage points stemming from artificial intelligence services, according to CNBC. The Microsoft figures come after Google on Tuesday reported a 15% increase in its revenue from the previous year, also largely driven by its cloud division.

Once seen as a speculative bubble, AI-forward companies “are likely to continue driving returns for investors,” an analyst at Goldman Sachs wrote. Big Tech is now pushing into cloud services, which can help better integrate AI into daily tasks, as cloud computing enables smaller business to capitalize on the technology without needing to invest in their own (expensive) equipment.

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