The Fall of Tech's Finest: Earnings Reports Show Major Setbacks

Shaun
Feb 3, 2023
Updated • Feb 3, 2023
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On Thursday, the three big tech giants - Apple, Amazon and Alphabet, collectively referred to as the A-Team, all posted unsatisfactory results, contrast to the previous day's positive outcome from Facebook, which delivered results that exceeded expectations. Apple's stock dropped over 4% after releasing its Q1 earnings, which fell short of projections for revenue, profit, and sales.

Amazon, Alphabet, and Apple’s recent earnings are worrying investors

The iPhone manufacturer, Apple, failed to meet analyst predictions for profit for the first time in seven years due to disruptions in iPhone production caused by the strict Covid-19 lockdowns and related demonstrations in China, its largest supplier. Apple also reported its largest quarterly decline in revenue in nearly seven years, registering $117.2 billion, a decrease of 5.49% from the previous year when it recorded record holiday sales. This amount was lower than the average estimate of $121.10 billion made by analysts.

Related: Google is rumored to be developing AirTag-like location tracking devices to rival Apple

In the press release accompanying its earnings report, Apple acknowledged ongoing challenges. The strict lockdowns in China, where 90% of its globally sold devices are produced, resulted in approximately $4 billion in lost sales in 2022, which has been deemed as shocking by observers. During the Thursday investor call, Cook stated that the iPhone revenue would have increased in the quarter if not for these supply disruptions, but production has returned to pre-shutdown levels.

For many years, Apple was considered a stable investment option in the tumultuous tech industry, but analysts believe this latest report signals a shift. In its October earnings call, the company had already signaled a potential slowdown, with the CFO, Luca Maestri, attributing it to the ‘continued uncertainty around the world.’

‘Apple’s poor quarter proves that even the most valuable US-traded company isn’t immune to the challenges facing the tech industry at large.’ This from a senior analyst at Investing.com, Jesse Cohen, who added that the report was ‘shockingly weak.’

On Thursday, Amazon posted earnings that fell below expectations, while at Alphabet, a decline in advertiser spending impacted the search company's revenue. The tech and retail giant is currently facing a difficult adjustment following its pandemic-driven growth and recently announced plans to cut 18,000 jobs. It reported a net loss of $2.7 billion for 2022, compared to a net income of $33.4 billion in the previous year. This loss included a pre-tax loss of $12.7 billion on its investment in electric vehicle maker Rivian. Despite this, net sales rose 9% to $514 billion, compared to $469.8 billion in 2021.

Back at Amazon, its most reliable asset, Amazon Web Services, reported sales of $21.4 billion, a 20% increase from the previous year but below the expectations of analysts. Alphabet also fell short of analyst projections, indicating a drop in demand for its search advertising during an economic slowdown. The company's sales for the quarter were $63.1 billion, slightly lower than the expected $63.2 billion.

In the previous month, Alphabet reduced its global workforce by 6%, or 12,000 jobs, with the goal of becoming a more streamlined and efficient company. However, it was subsequently faced with a lawsuit from the US Department of Justice, alleging that the company engaged in abusive practices in its dominance of the digital advertising market. These earnings results stand in contrast to the positive performance at Meta, the parent company of Facebook. 

However, it’s not all doom and gloom in tech sphere. On Thursday, Meta's stock saw a surge of up to 26%, its largest one-day increase in almost a decade.

The significant increase in Meta's share price followed CEO Mark Zuckerberg's commitment to streamline the social media company, which was well-received by analysts, many of whom upgraded their recommendations on the stock. Apple, unlike its tech peers, has not yet undergone widespread layoffs. During Thursday's investor call, Cook did not mention layoffs, but stated that the company would be cautious in monitoring its labor expenses. He said, ‘We’re cutting costs, we’re cutting hiring, we’re being very prudent and deliberate on people that we hire.’

Amazon, Alphabet, and Apple’s recent earnings are worrying investors

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Comments

  1. bruh said on August 18, 2023 at 1:25 pm
    Reply

    Uhh, this has already been possible – I am not sure how but remember my brother telling me about it. I’m not a whatsapp user so not sure of the specifics, but something about sending the image as a file and somehow bypassing the default compression settings that are applied to inbound photos.

    He has also used this to share movies to whatsapp groups, and files 1Gb+.

    Like I said, I never used whatsapp, but I know 100% this isn’t a “brand new feature”, my brother literally showed me him doing it, like… 5 months ago?

  2. 💥 said on August 18, 2023 at 3:55 pm
    Reply

    Martin, what happened to those: 12 Comments (https://www.ghacks.net/chatgpt-gets-schooled-by-princeton-university/#comments). Is there a specific justifiable reason why they were deleted?

    Hmm, it looks like the gHacks website database is faulty, and not populating threads with their relevant cosponsoring posts.

  3. 45 RPM said on August 19, 2023 at 6:29 pm
    Reply

    The page on ghacks this is on represents the best of why it has become so worthless, fill of click-bait junk that it’s about to be deleted from my ‘daily reads’.

    It’s really like “Press Release as re-written by some d*ck for clicks…poorly.” And the subjects are laughable. Can’t wait for “How to search for files on Windows”.

    1. owl said on August 20, 2023 at 12:51 am
      Reply

      > The page on ghacks this is on represents the best of why it has become so worthless, fill of click-bait junk…

      Sadly, I have to agree.

      Only Martin and Ashwin are worth subscribing to.
      Especially Emre Çitak and Shaun are the worst ones.

      If ghacks.net intended “Clickbait”, it would mark the end of Ghacks Technology News.
      Ghacks doesn’t need crappy clickbaits. Clearly separate articles from newer authors (perhaps AIs and external sales person or external advertising man) as just “Advertisements”!

      We, the subscribers of Ghacks, urge Martin to make a decision.

  4. chessandonions said on August 20, 2023 at 12:40 am
    Reply

    because nevermore wants to “monetize” on every aspect of human life…

  5. Frank Rizzo said on August 20, 2023 at 11:52 pm
    Reply

    “Threads” is like the Walmart of Social Media.

  6. Ashray said on August 21, 2023 at 4:06 pm
    Reply

    How hard can it be to clone a twitter version of that as well? They’re slow.

  7. Paul(us) said on August 21, 2023 at 5:16 pm
    Reply

    Yes, why not mention how large the HD files can be?
    Why, not mention what version of WhatsApp is needed?
    These omissions make the article feel so bare. If not complete.

    1. Paul(us) said on August 21, 2023 at 5:18 pm
      Reply

      Sorry posted on the wrong page.

  8. Marc said on August 21, 2023 at 6:00 pm
    Reply

    such a long article for such a simple matter. Worthless article ! waste of time

  9. plusminus_ said on August 21, 2023 at 7:54 pm
    Reply

    I already do this by attaching them via the ‘Document’ option.

  10. John G. said on August 21, 2023 at 11:43 pm
    Reply

    I don’t know what’s going on here at Ghacks but it’s obvious that something is broken, comments are being mixed whatever the article, I am unable to find some of my later posts neither. :S

  11. Tom Hawack said on August 23, 2023 at 2:28 pm
    Reply

    Quoting the article,
    “As users gain popularity, the value of their tokens may increase, allowing investors to reap rewards.”

    Besides, beyond the thrill and privacy risks or not, the point is to know how you gain popularity, be it on social sites as everywhere in life. Is it by being authentic, by remaining faithful to ourselves or is it to have this particular skill which is to understand what a majority likes, just like politicians, those who’d deny to the maximum extent compatible with their ideological partnership, in order to grab as many of the voters they can?

    I see the very concept of this Friend.tech as unhealthy, propagating what is already an increasing flaw : the quest for fame. I won’t be the only one to count himself out, definitely.

    1. Tom Hawack said on August 23, 2023 at 2:34 pm
      Reply

      @John G. is right : my comment was posted on [https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/23/what-is-friend-tech/] and it appears there but as well here at [https://www.ghacks.net/2023/07/08/how-to-follow-everyone-on-threads/]

      This has been lasting for several days. Fix it or at least provide some explanations if you don’t mind.

  12. Tom said on August 24, 2023 at 11:53 am
    Reply

    > Google Chrome is following in Safari’s footsteps by introducing a new feature that allows users to move the Chrome address bar to the bottom of the screen, enhancing user accessibility and interaction.

    Firefox did this long before Safari.

  13. Mavoy said on September 16, 2023 at 2:17 pm
    Reply

    Basically they’ll do anything except fair royalties.

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