In this Jan. 24, 2019 file photo, the Supreme Court is seen at sunset in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
WASHINGTON (AP) --
The Supreme Court is staying out of a lawsuit involving the television show "Empire."
The high court said Tuesday it won't take a case involving the Fox show, which follows a black family navigating the ups and downs of the record industry. That means a decision in favor of "Empire" co-creators Danny Strong and Lee Daniels stands.
Actor Clayton Prince Tanksley sued in 2016, claiming that "Empire" was substantially similar to a television show he had pitched at a competition in 2008. The lawsuit said Daniels was a judge at the competition and expressed an interest in the show Tanksley called "Cream," which involved a black record executive. A trial court dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that the shows weren't substantially similar. An appeals court agreed.
Mark Zuckerberg talks about the Orion AR glasses during the Meta Connect conference on Sept. 25, 2024, in Menlo Park, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez, File)
Meta Platforms Inc. posted sharply higher profit and revenue for its fourth quarter on Wednesday, thanks to higher ad revenue on its social media properties, sending its shares up in after-hours trading even as it forecast increasing expenses on its artificial intelligence efforts.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he expects 2025 to "be the year when a highly intelligent and personalized AI assistant reaches more than 1 billion people, and I expect Meta AI to be that leading AI assistant."
The Menlo Park, California-based company earned $20.83 billion, or $8.02 per share, in the October-December quarter. That's up 49% from $14.02 billion, or $5.33 per share, in the same period a year earlier.
Revenue grew 21% to $48.39 billion from $40.11 billion.
Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of $6.76 per share on revenue of $47 billion, according to a poll by FactSet.
"We continue to make good progress on AI, glasses, and the future of social media," Zuckerberg said in a statement.
For the current quarter, Meta said expects revenue of $39.5 billion to $41.8 billion. Analysts are expecting revenue at the high end of that range — $41.68 billion.
The company also said it expects expenses in the range of $114 billion to $119 billion, driven by infrastructure costs and employee compensation. Meta had 74,067 employees as of Dec. 31, up 10% from a year earlier.
"Meta's Q4 performance underscores the company's resilience in a still-uncertain digital ad market. By beating both earnings and revenue estimates, they've demonstrated that cost discipline and efficiency gains are paying dividends," said Jesse Cohen, an analyst with Investing.com. "However, the real headline is their commitment to aggressive capital expenditures.... Read More
