Meta reported 28% revenue growth but a 14% decline in quarterly profit as legal expenses, severance and AI investment weighed on results. The company framed artificial intelligence as a driver of its advertising business and future products while investors focused on the cost of the buildout. Meta reported second-quarter revenue of $60.8 billion, up from $47.52 billion a year earlier.
Quarterly profit fell to $15.85 billion from $18.34 billion. Earnings were $6.18 per share, below the $7.19 average expectation in a FactSet survey. Meta uses machine learning throughout advertising, recommendation systems, content tools and its consumer AI products.
The company said legal expenses and severance costs from layoffs contributed to the profit decline. Meta said daily active users across Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads grew 3% to about 3.6 billion. Large data-center commitments are raising capital costs across major technology companies.
Revenue above expectations does not by itself show the return on a specific AI model or infrastructure program.
The remaining evidentiary limit is specific: Meta did not provide product-level AI profitability, and market reaction can change as investors examine guidance and the earnings call. The next records expected to change the factual picture are updated capital-expenditure guidance and evidence of direct revenue from new enterprise or consumer AI services. Until those records appear, the attributed figures, filings and official descriptions remain the most current public account and may be revised by the institutions that produced them. Each figure refers to the date and scope identified above; it does not imply a later total or broader category. Subsequent orders, filings, datasets or official updates can revise those figures without changing the documented sequence of events at the cutoff.