Mark Zuckerberg And Meta Leaders Were So Rattled By This Single Investor Question That It Changed The Way They Spoke To Wall Street, CFO Reveals

Susan Li, the chief financial officer at Meta Platforms Inc. META, recounted a pivotal moment in late 2022 that reshaped how the company communicates with investors.

What Happened: Speaking on the Cheeky Pint podcast last week, Li, who’s been CFO of the social networking giant for nearly three years, discussed a tense post-earnings call with major shareholders following Meta's October 2022 third-quarter results.

The stock plunged over 20% following the results, amid plunging ad revenue, slowing e-commerce growth, and growing concerns over the company's costly metaverse ambitions.

Li says that at one point during the call, a portfolio manager told them, “We actually don't have any questions for you today. We just want you to hear feedback from us.”

However, the most jarring comment, she says, came shortly after, with an investor asking, “Why should I invest in your stock today? Why don't I just wait until your bet pays off?”

This was aimed at the company’s growing capital expenditures, particularly aimed at its metaverse projects. Li said the comment struck a nerve internally and helped shift how Meta’s leadership, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, thought about investor relations going forward.

Instead of asking markets to buy into long-term platform bets, she said the company began focusing more on near-term execution and financial clarity.

“We need people to invest with us along the way,” Li said, adding that “It's not enough to just pitch the future, we have to deliver in the present.”

At the time, in late 2022, Meta’s market capitalization had bottomed near $240 billion, compared to over $1 trillion the year before. Since then, the company has mounted a strong recovery, with its current market cap at $1.79 trillion, which Li says was driven by tighter cost controls, emphasis on free cash flows, and improvements in ad targeting.

This entire episode highlighted the growing demand from investors for accountability on big tech’s multi-billion-dollar moonshot spending.

Why It Matters: The company is now once again splurging on moonshots, with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stating recently that the company dangled nine-figure compensation deals to poach members of their team.

This comes just days after the company picked up a minority stake in Scale AI for $14 billion, valuing the artificial intelligence startup at $29 billion.

It is, however, continuing to deliver in the present for investors, with the introduction of ads in WhatsApp expected to generate approximately $10.2 billion in annual advertising revenue by 2028, according to analyst Mark Mahaney, from Evercore ISI.

Price Action: Shares of Meta Platforms were up 1.96% on Tuesday, trading at $712.20, and are down 0.01% after hours.

Meta scores well on Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings across the board, and it has a favorable price trend in the short, medium and long terms. Click here for deeper insights into the stock.

Photo Courtesy: Skorzewiak on Shutterstock.com

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