To Zuckerberg dividends of 700 million a year from Meta

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, will receive a payment of approximately $700 million from the social media giant's first ever dividend.

Meta announced a quarterly cash dividend of 50 cents per share for Class A and B common shares, starting in March. - The group's advertising revenue continues to run at full steam - and the Facebook and Instagram company pays its first coupon since its inception. Revenues increased to $40.1 billion year-on-year, Meta announced after the close of the US stock exchange. The final profit rose from $4.6 billion a year ago to $14 billion. "We had a good quarter as our customer base and business continue to grow," said Zuckerberg himself, founder and CEO of Meta. "We made a lot of progress in our vision for the advancement of artificial intelligence and the metaverse." At the same time, the company continues to invest in the development of virtual worlds.

The operating loss of Reality Labs, however, rose to $4.65 billion from $4.3 billion in the previous year. Meanwhile, the division's revenue rose from USD 727 million to just under USD 1.1 billion. Investors had repeatedly expressed concern that Meta was spending too much money on a technology with uncertain profit prospects. Doubts increased during the times last year when the online advertising business as a whole slowed down.

With about 350 million shares in hand, the announced coupon pool would mean that Zuckerberg would take home about $175 million in each quarterly payment before taxes, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. So an annual revenue of $700 million. Meta's move to pay a dividend is a signal to the market about its growth potential. Often, faster-growing technology companies avoid dividends in favour of using profits to develop new products or make expensive acquisitions. While Meta is investing heavily in artificial intelligence initiatives, its prospects for acquisitions are diminishing. So the cash is being redistributed to shareholders.