By
Bhushan Akolkar
April 25th, 2024
Several AI tokens recorded gains in 24 hours after the company posted good figures for the 2023 full year and Q4.
Artificial intelligence (AI) tokens have climbed on news that Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) announced positive quarterly earnings, including an increase in revenue. Meta stock jumped 14% in after-hours trading on the news, which included a higher forecast for the company and a stock buyback worth $50 billion.
Meta Pumps AI Tokens
According to CoinMarketCap data, some of the largest AI tokens by market cap recorded healthy 24-hour gains, including Internet Computer’s (ICP) 8.51%, Injective’s (INJ) 3.47%, and 4.85% from NEAR Protocol. CoinGecko’s list of the largest AI tokens reflected a 4.5% rise in Akash Network (AKT), and 4.4% in Render (RNDR).
On Thursday, Meta reported fourth quarter and full year 2023 results. Meta’s revenue for Q4 was $40.1 billion, a 24.7% increase from the $32.2 billion recorded in Q4 2022. In addition, there was a 16% increase in the company’s full-year revenue, from $116.6 billion to $134.9 billion.
There were also several increases across other metrics, including a 3% year-over-year (YoY) rise in Facebook’s monthly active users and a 6% increase in daily active users.
Meta also declared a cash dividend of $0,50 per share for all outstanding common stock for Class A and Class B. Shareholders of record as of February 22, 2024, will receive the dividends on March 26.
“We had a good quarter as our community and business continue to grow. We’ve made a lot of progress on our vision for advancing AI and the metaverse,” founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said.
Meta’s Metaverse Push
Facebook rebranded to Meta in October 2021, to reflect the company’s push into the metaverse. According to a press release at the time, Meta would connect people and build communities via the metaverse. Unfortunately, the company’s bet has not paid off since the rebrand. Between October 2021 and July last year, metaverse efforts have cost the company more than $20 billion. In 2022 alone, Meta’s Reality Labs, the arm responsible for the metaverse, recorded $2.2 billion in revenue but lost $13.7 billion. In the previous year, revenue was $2.3 billion, while loss was $10.2 billion.
During an earnings call at the time, Zuckerberg admitted that the plan was a long-term one that could be very challenging. Adding that there is a long-term horizon for appraising the company’s investment, the CEO said:
“I can’t guarantee you that I’m going to be right about this bet. I do think that this is the direction that the world is going in.”
For now, the bet on the metaverse has not exactly been fruitful. Reality Labs reported $1 billion in revenue for Q4 2023 and $4.65 billion in losses. Nevertheless, Q4 2023 is one of the best quarters for Reality Labs, with revenue rising from the $727 million recorded in Q4 2022. On the other hand, the $4.65 billion loss is the company’s largest quarterly loss, rising from $4.48 billion in 2022.