Meta expects 2023 to be ‘Year of Efficiency’

In 2023, Meta plans to cut costs by $5 billion to between $89 billion and $95 billion, compared to its earlier forecast of $94 billion to $100 billion, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg calling 2023 the Year of Efficiency. The company boosted investor confidence by forecasting first-quarter sales ahead of Wall Street estimates.

If premarket gains hold, the company would add $76 billion to its $401.51 billion market value. The stock fell by 64% in 2022.

AJ Bell said that 2023 would be a year of efficiency and investors were worried about the largesse in spending directed towards the unproven potential of the metaverse.

Meta results sparked a rally in shares of other mega-cap firms that are due to report quarterly results later in the day. Amazon.com Inc and Google's Alphabet Inc rose about 4% each, while Apple Inc fell 1.1%.

Shares of Pinterest Inc increased by 5.8% after a report that the online pinboards firm was cutting staff by 150, nearly 5% of its workforce, while Snap Inc added 2% a day after the company forecast a decline in current-quarter revenue.

The Fed Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged on Wednesday that inflation was starting to ease, so tech and growth stocks got a boost as the U.S. Treasury yields fell after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged on Wednesday that inflation was starting to relax.