Meta's Latest Challenge: Advertisers Are Revolting. Should Investors Be Worried?
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) has been no stranger to controversy, but in the eyes of investors, the stock has done everything right in the past year and a half. Meta's stock price has soared more than 300% since the start of 2023 as ad revenue growth has bounced back. The company has slashed expenses following its "year of efficiency," and has regained investor trust.
However, there are now warning signs that momentum could be falling apart.
Advertisers have taken to social media, saying that the company's ad platform is broken and that ad rates are unrealistic and unsustainable. Some small and medium-sized businesses, which make up Meta's core advertising customers, have pulled back on ads, shut off advertising on Facebook and Instagram entirely, or shifted their budgets to other platforms like Alphabet's Google and ByteDance's TikTok.
Source Fool.com