Meta Surges, Snap Sinks

Meta and Snap Inc., have faced the same challenges from the iOS privacy change and economic turbulence over the past year with starkly different outcomes. Meta's stock surged over 160% for the year due to strong results and double-digit growth in the ad business, while Snap's shares dropped 14% with a more modest 20% increase for the year. Both CEOs, Zuckerberg and Spiegel, are committed to investing in experimental projects, particularly related to augmented reality and the metaverse. Meta is heavily promoting its vision for the metaverse, believing that owning such a platform is crucial for the future. On the other hand, Snap sees its AR projects as an extension of its core platform rather than entirely new bets. While Meta seems to have addressed most of its ad challenges, Snap is still struggling, and profitability is impacted by significant infrastructure spending to invest in AI for enhancing user experience and improving ad targeting capabilities.