Sir Martin Sorrell, Executive Chairman, S4 Capital.
Eóin Noonan | Sportsfile | Getty Images | Web Summit
Advertising titan Martin Sorrell believes Meta will rebound “extremely strongly this year” and sees a promising outlook for U.S. tech giants, despite a bruising 2022 and mass layoffs.
U.S. tech companies have let go of more than 60,000 employees in the last year, as slowing economic growth, higher interest rates in response to soaring inflation and competitive challenges squeezed margins and hammered the stock prices of tech behemoths.
Facebook parent Meta in November announced plans to eliminate 13% of its staff, amounting to more than 11,000 employees. It also issued bleak fourth-quarter guidance that wiped out around a quarter of its market cap, pushing the stock to its lowest since 2016.
A broad slowdown in online ad spending and competition from new rivals such as TikTok, along with challenges associated with privacy changes to Apple’s iOS, have hampered the social media group’s business over the past year.
The company has also taken a substantial hit from its massive investment in building its augmented reality world known as the metaverse — a strategy that has proven divisive among analysts and investors.
Sorrell, executive chairman of U.K. advertising agency S4 Capital, expects Meta to address most of its business challenges in 2023, while benefiting from China’s reopening.
“I think you’ll see Meta come back extremely strongly this year, on the back of reels and business messenger, to deal with the competition from TikTok and other short form video competitors,” Sorrell told CNBC on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“Google had a solid year last year, and I think they’ll have a strong year this year. Amazon increased its advertising revenues from $31bn to $41bn, and I think [it] will hit $100bn in time, despite what you’re seeing in terms of jobs and hiring.”
He also suggested that the reopening of the Chinese economy would be “huge” for big tech firms, noting that outbound Chinese business, or Chinese companies expanding their businesses abroad, were historically the second-largest profit centers for the likes of Meta, Amazon and Google parent Alphabet.
Sorrell launched S4, which operates in both the digital advertising and digital transformation spaces, after leaving ad giant WPP in 2018. S4 on Wednesday confirmed its full-year guidance, and Sorrell said his clients’ advertising spending priorities in 2023 would be “topline growth in activation and performance” and “reducing [the] cost of digital transformation.”
A Tesla Cybertruck sits on a lot at a Tesla dealership on April 15, 2024 in Austin, Texas.
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Tesla shares slid more than 2% Tuesday after a report that the electric vehicle maker was halting production of Cybertruck and Model Y models for a week in Austin, Texas.
The production stoppage begins June 30, Business Insider reported, citing a staff meeting where the announcement was made. The pause, which is for maintenance on production lines, would be the third such shutdown at the Austin facility in the past year, according to BI.
Tesla is tentatively launching the robotaxi in Austin on June 22, using Model Y vehicles equipped with a new version of the company’s “Full Self-Driving” technology.
CEO Elon Musk shared a video clip on X last week of a Model Y robotaxi on a road in Austin, adding to the buzz for the promised launch.
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CNBC has reached out to Tesla for comment on the reported pause.
The two new features, announced Monday in a post during the Cannes Lions festival, will help brands better leverage discussions on the platform. The company said the tools are powered by an engine called Reddit Community Intelligence that turns “posts and comments into structured intelligence.”
Reddit announced a “listening tool” called Reddit Insights, which shares real-time insights with marketers to help them identify trends and launch campaigns. The other tool, called Conversation Summary Add-ons, allows brands to show “positive” user content under their ads.
“These are tools for a new era of community marketing, one where brands can tap into Reddit’s authenticity and connect meaningfully with high-intent communities around the world,” the company wrote.
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The company said Publicis served as the exclusive alpha tester for Reddit Insights, while Lucid and Jackbox Games were among the early testers for Conversation Summary Add-Ons.
Companies across industries are betting on new ways to harness AI to improve advertising campaigns and better engage with users. These new tools are transforming the industry while also putting pressure on some advertising stalwarts.
The industry is also currently navigating a bumpy environment spurred by the trade war with China.
During the recent earnings season, many companies warned of sluggish advertising sales in certain regions due to a rocky macroeconomic environment. Recent developments, however, have suggested a cooling of tensions between the U.S. and China.
Last month, Reddit posted strong sales and upbeat guidance. The company has benefited from recent changes to Google search and internal site improvements, which include convincing logged-out users to open accounts. Logged-in accounts are more beneficial to advertisers.
European defense technology startup Helsing on Tuesday said that it’s raised 600 million euros ($693.6 million) in a bumper new round of funding.
The investment was led by Prima Materia, the venture capital firm founded by Spotify CEO Daniel Ek and by Shakil Khan, an early investor in the popular music streaming app. Ek is also chairman of Helsing.
Existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Accel, Plural, General Catalyst and Saab also put money in, alongside new investors BDT & MSD Partners.
Defense and the technology behind it have become a hot area for investors lately, amid major global conflicts, including the Ukraine war to Israel-Gaza. Last week saw a further escalation of war in the Middle East as Israel launched a series of airstrikes against Iran.
In 2024, venture funding in Europe’s defense, security and resilience sector reached an all-time high of $5.2 billion, according to a recent report from the NATO Innovation Fund. The sector grew 30% in the past two years, outperforming the broader VC market, which saw a 45% decline over the same period.
Founded in 2021, Helsing sells software that uses artificial intelligence technology to analyze large amounts of sensor and weapons system data from the battlefield to inform military decisions in real time. Last year, the startup also began manufacturing its own line of military drones, called HX-2.
Helsing, which operates in the U.K., Germany and France, said it would use the fresh cash to invest in Europe’s “technological sovereignty” — which refers to attempts to onshore the development and production of critical technologies, such as AI.
“As Europe rapidly strengthens its defence capabilities in response to evolving geopolitical challenges, there is an urgent need for investments in advanced technologies that ensure its strategic autonomy and security readiness,” Ek said in a statement out Tuesday.
Helsing did not disclose its new valuation following the latest financing round, which is subject to “certain approvals,” according to a statement. The firm was previously valued at around 5 billion euros in a 450 million euro funding round led by General Catalyst last year.