US technology company Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, announced yesterday a net profit of 13,498 million dollars (12,170 million euros) in the first half of the year, 4.6% less than in the same period in 2022.

The company led by Mark Zuckerberg recorded a turnover of 60,645 million dollars between January and June, compared to 56,729 million dollars a year earlier, but costs also rose sharply.

After a more complicated first quarter, in the second quarter Meta managed to improve both turnover - up 11% to 31,999 million dollars - and profits - up 16% to 7,788 million.

"We had a good quarter," said Zuckerberg in a statement, in which he said he was enthusiastic about the company's new products, which include Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools and the new Threads network, born as a competitor to Twitter.

Digital advertising, in any case, remains the company's main source of revenue and, in the most recent quarter, it made a clear recovery, with revenues of 31,498 million dollars, 12% more than a year earlier.

For the second quarter in a row, Meta saw revenues grow after its activity declined for most of 2022.

Investors, who generally expected a recovery in advertising this year, have been betting heavily on Meta and other tech giants in recent months, also hoping that the restructurings that several of them have undergone will improve their profitability and the opportunities of the AI revolution.

So far this year, shares in Facebook's parent company have gained almost 140%, recovering much of what was lost last year, but still far from the highs they reached in 2021.

Today, the good stock market trend continued, with Meta's shares closing the session up 1.39% and rising sharply by around 5% in electronic trading after the close, following the publication of the accounts.

In addition to better-than-expected results, Meta announced a positive outlook for the coming months, with a turnover of between 32,000 and 34,500 million dollars in the third quarter.

At the same time, the company has stated that it expects an increase in expenses, both due to restructuring costs and investments in AI and the metaverse.

Regarding the use of its main applications, Meta pointed out that the number of daily active Facebook users grew by 5% in June, to 2.060 million. (NMinute)