On October 30, Facebook parent company Meta (NASDAQ: META) today released its financial report for the third quarter of fiscal year 2025 ending on September 30. The financial report shows that Meta's total revenue in the third quarter was US$51.242 billion, an increase of 26% from US$40.589 billion in the same period last year; net profit was US$2.709 billion, a decrease of 83% from US$15.688 billion in the same period last year, of which the operating loss of the reality laboratory hardware department was US$4.4 billion.


Zuckerberg

Affected by the implementation of the "Big and Beautiful Act", Meta recorded a one-time non-cash income tax expense of US$15.93 billion in income tax expenses in the third quarter of 2025, resulting in a sharp decline in profits. Excluding this impact, net profit would have increased by $15.93 billion to $18.64 billion. However, Meta expects U.S. federal cash tax payments to be significantly reduced for the remainder of 2025 and in future years.

Stock price performance:

Meta's third-quarter revenue and adjusted earnings per share both exceeded analysts' consensus expectations, but due to the impact of taxes and fees, the company's stock price fell by more than 8% after the market closed.


Meta fell 8.5% after hours

Meta opened Wednesday at $754.75 on the Nasdaq exchange. As of Wednesday's close, Meta's stock price rose $0.23 to close at $751.67, an increase of 0.03%. As of press time, Meta's stock price fell by US$63.89 to US$687.78 in after-hours trading, a decrease of 8.50%. In the past 52 weeks, Meta's stock price has been as high as $796.25 and as low as $479.80.

Third quarter operating highlights:

——In September 2025, the average number of daily active users (DAP) of the application family was 3.54 billion, a year-on-year increase of 8%;

——The number of ad impressions on the application family increased by 14% year-on-year, and the average price of each advertisement increased by 10% year-on-year.

Third quarter financial results:

——Total revenue was US$51.242 billion, an increase of 26% from US$40.589 billion in the same period last year;

· Advertising revenue was US$50.082 billion, an increase of 26% from US$39.885 billion in the same period last year;

·Other business income was US$690 million, an increase of 59% from US$434 million in the same period last year;

·The revenue of the Reality Laboratory division responsible for the Metaverse business was US$470 million, an increase of 74% from US$270 million in the same period last year; the operating loss was US$4.432 billion, which was basically the same as the operating loss of US$4.428 billion in the same period last year;

——Total costs and expenses were US$30.707 billion, an increase of 32% from US$23.239 billion in the same period last year;

——Operating profit was US$20.535 billion, an increase of 18% from US$17.350 billion in the same period last year; operating profit margin was 40%, a decrease of 3 percentage points from 43% in the same period last year;

——Income tax expense was US$18.954 billion, an increase of 788% from US$2.134 billion in the same period last year; the effective tax rate was 87%, compared with 12% in the same period last year;

——Net profit was US$2.709 billion, a decrease of 83% from US$15.688 billion in the same period last year;

——Diluted earnings per share were US$1.05, a decrease of 83% from US$6.03 in the same period last year; excluding the impact of taxes and fees, diluted earnings per share were US$7.25;

--Capital expenditures of $19.37 billion;

——Meta repurchased $3.16 billion of Class A common stock during the quarter; distributed dividends and dividend equivalents totaling $1.33 billion;

——As of September 30, 2025, Meta’s total cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities were US$44.45 billion; cash flow from operating activities was US$30 billion; free cash flow was US$10.62 billion.

Fourth Quarter Outlook:

——Total revenue in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025 will be between US$56 billion and US$59 billion. This expectation is based on the positive impact of exchange rate changes on year-on-year revenue growth of approximately 1%;

——Total expenses in fiscal year 2025 will be between US$116 billion and US$118 billion, compared with the previous forecast of US$114 billion to US$118 billion, a year-on-year increase of 22% to 24%;

——Capital expenditures in fiscal 2025 will be between US$70 billion and US$72 billion, compared with the previous forecast of US$66 billion to US$72 billion;

——The tax rate for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2025 is between 12% and 15%.

Executive comments:

Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said: "Our business and community performed strongly this quarter. Meta's super-smart lab is off to a great start, and we continue to lead the industry in AI glasses. Even if we can only seize a fraction of the opportunity in front of us, the next few years will be the most exciting period in our history."