By Staff Reporters
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Plunging tech stocks are dragging the markets down and snapping a brief winning streak. Up next for the economy: The third-quarter GDP report.
America’s internet giants are slumping hard in this era of higher interest rates, lower advertising budgets, and widespread economic uncertainty
For example, Meta recently became the latest Big Tech company to post rough financial results for the prior quarter. It recorded its second straight quarter of declining revenue and provided a gloomy outlook for Q4. Perhaps Meta shouldn’t even be considered “Big Tech” anymore. Since its share price peaked in September 2021, the company lost nearly two-thirds of its value…before diving another ~20% in after-hours trading yesterday.
What went wrong? Younger people are fleeing Facebook, and investors aren’t confident CEO Mark Zuckerberg can reinvent the company as a metaverse platform. “Meta has drifted into the land of excess—too many people, too many ideas, too little urgency,” a prominent shareholder wrote this week in a scathing letter. Meta’s metaverse unit, Reality Labs, has lost $9.4 billion so far this year.
While Meta may be the poster child for Big Tech’s struggles, it’s not the only company that needs a checkup
- Google parent Alphabet posted its slowest revenue growth since 2013 (outside of one early pandemic quarter), and YouTube ad sales actually fell in Q3. It’s “a tough time in the ad market,” CEO Sundar Pichai acknowledged. Alphabet shares had their worst day since March 2020.
- And Microsoft also had its worst day since March 2020 after giving a disappointing forecast. Its push to dominate the metaverse is also faltering, per the WSJ.
Big view
Tech giants scored record profits during COVID, when interest rates were near zero, stimulus checks were flowing, and everyone was stuck inside with only the internet to entertain themselves. No anymore!
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Filed under: "Ask-an-Advisor", Breaking News, Financial Planning, Information Technology, Investing | Tagged: big tech, big tech stocks, big tech stocks down | Leave a comment »