By Jeremy Bowman
Publication Date: 2026-01-31 00:30:00
Meta could soon be the world’s largest advertising business.
Meta Platforms (META 2.95%) has been a big winner in the AI era, up 8x since the stock bottomed out in 2022, and its latest results delighted investors.
Revenue jumped 24% in the fourth quarter to $59.9 billion. Ramped-up spending weighed on margins, but investors had expected that, and net income still rose 9% to $22.8 billion, or $8.88 per share.
Looking ahead, Meta also issued better-than-expected revenue guidance for the first quarter, calling for $53.5 billion-$56.5 billion on the top line, up 30% from the quarter a year ago, which includes a 4% foreign currency tailwind. That would be its fastest quarterly growth in five years.
In addition to the strong headline numbers, Meta is on the verge of a milestone that few would have thought possible five or ten years.
Its advertising revenue could surpass that of Alphabet’s (GOOG 0.02%) (GOOGL 0.05%) Google Search as soon as this year. Here’s how.
Image source: Getty…