Meta's Earnings Report

Meta, formerly known as Facebook, recently reported its Q3 earnings and the results were not good. The company's stock opened down 23% after reporting a 4% decline in revenue year over year and a 52% decline in net income year over year to $4.4 billion. While Meta's family of apps daily active users were up around 4% year over year to 2.93 billion, the decline in revenue is a cause for concern. Meta's ads business is shrinking and the decline might actually be accelerating. Revenue declined 0.88% two quarters ago, 4.47% this past quarter, and Meta is now projecting a drop of 7.19% next quarter.

Meta's User Growth

While Meta's revenue decline is a cause for concern, the company's user growth is still good. There was a time not long ago when the concern was user growth at Meta's apps had stalled out, but that is no longer the case. It's just that Meta is not making as much money on users all of a sudden. The concern is that Meta is turning into a bad business or at least an aging one, a declining one. Investors are worried that Meta is throwing good money after bad. Meta has been repurchasing its own stock over the past 12 months to prop the stock price up. It bought $42 billion worth of its own stock in the past 12 months at an average price of $300 a share. Meta's shares are now trading at $99 a share. Meta has lost more than $600 billion in market value this year alone. It is about to drop out of the ranks of the 20 largest U.S. companies.

Meta's Stock Repurchase

Meta's stock repurchase is a cause for concern among investors. They are worried that Meta is throwing good money after bad. Meta has been repurchasing its own stock over the past 12 months to prop the stock price up. It bought $42 billion worth of its own stock in the past 12 months at an average price of $300 a share. Meta's shares are now trading at $99 a share. Meta has lost more than $600 billion in market value this year alone. It is about to drop out of the ranks of the 20 largest U.S. companies.

Argo AI's Shutdown

Argo AI, an autonomous vehicle startup that raised more than $2.6 billion, is shutting down. Sources say parts of the company and some employees will be absorbed by Ford and Volkswagen. Ford and Volkswagen were the biggest investors in Argo. Argo was one of the self-driving startups closest to the auto industry. The c-suite of Argo were and are members of the mutant Podcast army and were regular listeners to the Show. This news is surprising as many assumed that Argo was one of the leaders in the self-driving space. Their tech was maybe the closest to being tangible. Apparently, this happened because Argo couldn't attract new outside investors, and Ford and VW were not going to top up their own investments.

Samsung's Q3 Operating Profit

Samsung reported Q3 operating profit down 31% year over year, the first decline in around three years, with revenue up 4% year over year. However, semiconductor sales were down 14% and prices for NAND flash memory are expected to drop 15% to 20% in the fourth quarter. Prices for DRAM chips used in smartphones and PCs are expected to suffer a similar decline. Samsung executives have had a pessimistic outlook for the chip market for months and have warned that relief may not come anytime soon.

Google Cloud's Blockchain Node Engine

Google Cloud has announced something called the blockchain node engine aimed to help developers build and manage blockchain-Based products starting with Ethereum. Blockchain node engine will allow developers to provision fully managed Ethereum nodes with secure blockchain access. Google notes that blockchain nodes are often difficult to deploy and require constant management problems that the blockchain node engine service is designed to solve. With blockchain node engine, developers will be able to deploy a new node with a single operation, and they can specify the desired region and network. Manually deploying a node requires provisioning a compute instance, installing an Ethereum client, and waiting for the node to sync with the network. Syncing a full node from the first block can take several days. Google Cloud actively monitors the nodes and restarts them if anything goes wrong. DevOps teams don't have to stand by for outages. The service also offers security insurances, placing nodes behind a VPC firewall and using Google services such as Cloud Armor to protect nodes from DDOS attacks.

Elon Musk's Twitter Takeover

Elon Musk's Twitter takeover is all happening. Sources say the banks providing the $13 billion in cash to help fund the deal have begun transferring the money, signaling the deal could indeed close tomorrow. However, advertisers on Twitter are concerned about looser content moderation and potential conflicts of interest. Musk has sought to reassure Twitter advertisers, arguing his goal is not to make money, and the service cannot become a free-for-all hellscape. Musk claimed he's buying Twitter not to make more money but to try to help humanity. Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape where anything can be said with no consequences. In addition to adhering to the laws of the land, our platform must be warm and welcoming to all, where You can choose your desired experience according to your preferences, just as you can choose, for example, to see movies or play video games ranging from all ages to mature. Fundamentally, Twitter aspires to be the most respected advertising platform in the world that strengthens your brand and grows your enterprise.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the tech industry is constantly evolving, and companies must adapt to stay Relevant. Meta's earnings report is a cause for concern, and the company's stock repurchase is worrying investors. Argo AI's shutdown is surprising, and Samsung's Q3 operating profit decline is a sign of a potential global recession. Google Cloud's blockchain node engine is a step forward for blockchain-based products, and Elon Musk's Twitter takeover is all happening. The tech industry is always changing, and it's important to stay up to date on the latest news and trends.

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