Facebook beat Q3 2021 earnings expectations despite Apple’s privacy changes. Yahoo Finance reported $29.01 billion in revenue against a $29.45 billion estimate and $3.22 in earnings per share against $3.17 expected.
I expected the ad business to look worse, so I got that call wrong. A profit beat didn’t mean Apple’s tracking limits had no cost. It showed Facebook still had enough scale and pricing power to absorb disruption for a quarter. I would have watched advertiser results over several quarters before declaring the privacy change harmless. The metaverse pitch was a separate bet.