META PLATFORMS shares soared 20 per cent in early US trading yesterday after the firm revealed it will pay its first dividends in March.
It plans quarterly payments from then on which could mean boss Mark Zuckerberg gets £549m a year in dividends.
Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, said the dividend would be paid at 50 cents a share.
Zuckerberg, 39, holds about 350million.
The firm first listed in New York in 2012.
Analyst Dan Coatsworth of AJ Bell said: “Paying a dividend suggests the company wants to reboot its reputation and be taken more seriously.”
Meta also posted strong fourth quarter results. Revenues climbed 25 per cent to £31.4billion and profits tripled to £11billion.
It benefited from a rebound in advertising on social media platforms, and cut costs by axing around a fifth of its staff.
Headcount fell by around 19,000 to 69,000.
Zuckerberg said: “2023 was our year of efficiency.”
He said the focus had been on making Meta a stronger technology company while it prepares its “long-term vision for AI and the metaverse”.
He has talked of plans to develop general AI and make it open source.
Air war woe
DESPITE flying more passengers last month, budget airline Ryanair had to cancel more than 950 flights because of the Gaza conflict.
It reported 12.2million customers, up 3 per cent on the previous year.
Shares in rival Wizz Air jumped 10 per cent on a 14 per cent rise in passengers to 4.7million in January.
Opel sales up
CAR giant Opel-Vauxhall said sales increased by 15 per cent in 2023 compared to the year before.
It said sales of fully electric vehicles increased by 22 per cent.
Boss Florian Huettl said: “We can look back on a very strong year in 2023.”
The firm said the Corsa remained the UK’s best-selling supermini.