THE TECH tumble seemed to be neverending this week, with Facebook and Instagram owner Meta announcing its first ever drop in sales revenue in the first time in its history on Wednesday.

The social media giant's revenue stood at $28.2bn (£23.2bn) in the first three months up to June this year, down from $29bn in the same period last year, marking a one per cent fall.

However, the Mark Zuckerbergowned company did report an increase in the number of monthly users on Facebook, up one per cent year-on-year, in what appears a successful bid to stave off rival platforms like Tiktok.

"It was good to see positive trajectory on our engagement trends this quarter coming from products like Reels and our investments in AI," said Mark Zuckerberg, Meta founder and CEO.

The firm said it expects total revenue to be around $28bn in the third quarter, thanks to "weak advertising demand".

Weighing in on the results, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown Laura Hoy said: "The good news [for Meta] is most of this disappointment was already priced in after fellow social media firms Snap and Twitter posted similarly alarming numbers. But that doesn't do much for investor confidence moving forward."

Meta shares fell over five per cent yesterday, and have tanked over 50 per cent in the year to date.

(c) 2022 City A.M., source Newspaper