Billions in profits in the tech industry: Meta and Amazon in particular shine with their annual figures. At Apple, too, the signs point to recovery again.
Some of the big tech companies’ profits have increased more than thirtyfold. Meta and Amazon each made more than $10 billion in profits in the final quarter of last year.
Thanks to a good Christmas business in retail and growth in the cloud division, the online retailer Amazon earned billions in profits in the fourth quarter of 2023. In the months from September to December, revenue grew by 14 percent year-on-year to $170 billion (154.4 billion euros), Amazon announced yesterday after the US stock market closed. During special sales campaigns such as “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday”, customers ordered more than a billion items last year – more than ever before.
Profit jumped in the fourth quarter from around $300 million a year ago to $10.6 billion – more than a thirty-fold increase compared to the previous year.
This year, Amazon hopes for continued good sales in its cloud division and is also relying on innovations in the area of AI. “As we enter 2024, our teams are delivering results at a rapid pace and we still have a lot to look forward to,” said company boss Andy Jassy. Amazon is currently testing an assistant with artificial intelligence that will make shopping on the platform easier.
Meta makes $14 billion in profit in three months
The tech giant Meta’s cash registers were also ringing thanks to bubbling advertising revenue on the platforms Instagram, Facebook and Co.: The group made a profit of around $14 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023 – a tripling compared to the last quarter of 2022. Meta now wants to do so for the first time pay a quarterly dividend and set it at 50 cents.
Like Amazon, Meta will also rely even more on AI in the future and also wants to expand its virtual world, the Metaverse. Founder and boss Mark Zuckerberg once again confirmed that Meta could invest in both areas. He had Facebook’s company name changed to Meta – based on the virtual world Metaverse.
Apple is earning more again – iPhone is the most popular cell phone in the world
The technology company Apple starts selling its first computer glasses this Friday. This is hoping for a new revenue generator after a decade of iPhone success. But the iPhone continues to be the company’s driving force.
After four quarters of declining sales, Apple’s business has recovered slightly. His company owes this to the success of the latest iPhone generation, said company boss Tim Cook in an interview with the Reuters news agency.
“We had particularly strong double-digit growth in emerging markets outside of China. The iPhone is doing well in these markets.” According to calculations by market researchers, Apple became the world’s largest smartphone provider for the first time last year, replacing long-standing leader Samsung.
This helped the electronics group achieve a surprisingly significant increase in consolidated sales of two percent to $119.58 billion. Earnings of $2.18 per share also exceeded market expectations. In China, however, things are not going well. Apple even relies on discounts there – very unusual for the company – and still only achieved 20.82 billion dollars instead of the hoped-for 23.53 billion dollars.