Key Financial Data
- Q4 Revenue: $59.89 billion (+24% year-over)
- Q4 Operating income: $24.75 billion (+6%)
- Q4 Net income: $22.77 billion (+9%)
- Q4 Expenditures: $35.15 billion (+40%)
- FY25 Revenue: $200.97 billion (+22%)
- FY25 Operating income: $83.28 billion (+20%)
- FY25 Net income: $60.46 billion (-3%)
- FY25 Expenditures: $117.69 billion (+24%)
- Free cash flow: $14.08 billion
- Read more Q4 media earnings coverage
Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, beat Wall Street expectations with fourth quarter (Q4) and full year revenue for 2025, but the tech giant saw higher expenses based largely on its investments in artificial intelligence.
Q4 revenue rose to $59.9 billion, up 24 percent from the same period a year earlier. Net income for the quarter increased 9 percent to $22.8 billion, while diluted earnings per share climbed 11 percent to $8.88.
For the full year, Meta posted revenue of $201 billion, a 22 percent increase year over year. Operating income rose 20 percent to $83.3 billion. Net income slipped 3 percent to $60.5 billion, reflecting higher taxes and increased spending tied to infrastructure and staffing.
Advertising remained Meta’s primary growth engine. Ad impressions increased 18 percent in the fourth quarter and 12 percent for the full year, while the average price per ad rose 6 percent in the quarter and 9 percent for the year.
Costs and expenses climbed faster than revenue. Q4 costs jumped 40 percent to $35.1 billion, while full-year costs rose 24 percent to $117.7 billion. The company said spending increases were largely driven by higher research and development costs, infrastructure investments driven by artificial intelligence and employee compensation.
Meta ended 2025 with 78,865 employees, an increase of 6 percent from the prior year. Its active user count — which it reports as “family daily active people” — rose 7 percent to 3.58 billion people across its different products and service-based offerings, which include Instagram, Oculus and WhatsApp.
The company’s stock price was up around 5 percent in after-hours trading, after closing down nearly 1 percent earlier in the day. Its earnings report was released after the market closed on Wednesday.
Stock Price
“We had strong business performance in 2025,” Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Meta Platforms, said in a statement. “I’m looking forward to advancing personal superintelligence for people around the world in 2026.”
Meta continued to invest heavily in its data centers and technical infrastructure throughout 2025. Capital expenditures, including finance leases, totaled $22.1 billion in the fourth quarter and $72.2 billion for the full year. Free cash flow was $14.1 billion in the quarter and $43.6 billion for the year, down from the prior year as capital spending accelerated.
Reality Labs, the company’s virtual and augmented reality unit, continued to weigh on results. The segment posted an operating loss of $6.0 billion in the fourth quarter and $19.2 billion for the full year, roughly in line with losses reported in 2024.
Looking ahead, Meta forecast first-quarter 2026 revenue of between $53.5 billion and $56.5 billion. The company said it expects full-year expenses to rise further in 2026 as it ramps up infrastructure spending and investments in artificial intelligence.
