Apple, Amazon and Meta's revenues soar

US technology giants Apple's revenue increased by 2 percent, Meta's revenue increased by 25 percent, and Amazon's revenue increased by 14 percent. Apple announced its balance sheet for the three-month period ending December 30, 2023, which it accepts as the first quarter of its 2024 fiscal year. Accordingly, the company's revenue increased by 2 percent compared to the same period in 2022, reaching $119.6 billion. The company had revenue of $117.1 billion in the same period of the previous year. The company's revenue exceeded market expectations of $118 billion, and recorded its first increase in the last year. On the other hand, the company's sales in China, one of its important markets, decreased by 13 percent. Apple's service revenues reached an all-time high of $23.1 billion. Apple's net profit increased by 13 percent in the last three months of last year compared to the same period of the previous year, reaching $33.9 billion. The company's net profit was recorded as approximately $30 billion in the same period of 2022. The company's earnings per share also increased from $1.88 to $2.18 in the same period. iPhone and Mac sales increased, iPad sales decreased During this period, Apple's smartphone and computer sales increased, while tablet sales decreased. The amount of iPhone sales increased by approximately 6 percent in the October-December 2023 period compared to the same period of the previous year, reaching $69.7 billion. In the same period, Mac sales increased by 0.6 percent to $7.8 billion, while the amount of iPad sales decreased by 11 percent to $7 billion. Meta announced that it will distribute dividends According to Meta's balance sheet for the October-December period, the company's revenue in the last quarter of last year increased by 25 percent compared to the same period of 2022, reaching $40.1 billion. The company had revenue of $32.2 billion in the same period of the previous year. The company's net profit also increased by 201 percent to $14 billion in the fourth quarter of last year. The company had announced a net profit of $4.6 billion in the final quarter of the previous year. Meta's revenue for 2023 was calculated as $134.9 billion, up 16 percent annually, while its net profit increased by 69 percent to $39.1 billion. The company's earnings per share, which was $1.76 in the fourth quarter of 2022, reached $5.33 in the same period last year. On the other hand, Meta announced on March 26, 2024, it will pay a cash dividend of 50 cents per share to registered shareholders as of February 22, 2024. The company also announced that it expects revenue between $34.5 and $37 billion in the first quarter of this year. Facebook's active user count continues to increase The daily and monthly active user count of Facebook, under the Meta umbrella, continued to increase during this period. Facebook's daily active users increased by 6 percent annually as of December last year, reaching 2.11 billion. The social networking site's monthly active users also increased by 3 percent in the same period, reaching 3.07 billion. The company's number of employees decreased by 22 percent compared to the previous year, falling to 67,317 as of December 31, 2023. Amazon's revenue exceeded expectations US e-commerce giant Amazon also published its balance sheet for the October-December period of last year. Accordingly, Amazon's revenue in the last quarter of 2023 increased by approximately 14 percent compared to the same period of the previous year, reaching 170 billion dollars. Market expectations were for the company to announce revenue of 166 billion dollars. The company's net sales were recorded as 149.2 billion dollars in the fourth quarter of 2022. Amazon's net profit also increased to 10.6 billion dollars in the last quarter of last year. The company made a profit of 278 million dollars in the same period of the previous year. The company's revenue for 2023 will be $574.8 billion, while Amazon's net profit was recorded as $30.4 billion in the same period. The e-commerce giant's net profit per share was calculated as $1 in the last quarter of 2023. The company had announced a profit of 3 cents per share in the same period of the previous year. Amazon, on the other hand, announced that it expects revenue between $138 and $143.5 billion in the first quarter of this year.