Meta posts sharply higher quarterly profit, topping Wall Street’s expectations

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of Meta (David Zalubowski/AP)

Meta Platforms Inc posted sharply higher profit and revenue for its fourth quarter on Wednesday, thanks to higher ad revenue on its social media properties, sending its shares up in after-hours trading even as it forecast increasing expenses on its artificial intelligence efforts.

The California-based company earned 20.83 billion dollars (£16.76 billion), or 8.02 dollars per share, in the October-December quarter. That is up 49% from 14.02 billion dollars (£11.28 billion), or 5.33 dollars per share, in the same period a year earlier.