Meta Announcements: Sorry. Here's some cash.

Churlish to link the two, but Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's perhaps unexpected apologies to the US Senate during its online child safety hearing were swiftly followed up by a further surprise: Meta's announcement that it shall be declaring its first ever dividend.

This move may go some way towards stemming the common criticism that whilst massive tech companies enjoy huge revenue streams, their strategies of re-investment and consolidation often limit the realising of those gains by investors.

The market responded positively with Meta's shares trading 20% up after the announcement.

Although immediate gains from investment now may be limited as they will be priced-in to that increase, more broadly it may turn out to be an opening salvo in the challenge for large public tech companies to attract and hold on to investors.

By announcing its first ever dividend, Meta may be indicating that it's not only ready to grow, but also to pay out on that growth.

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“One of the major complaints about the new wave of tech companies has been that while they generate tens of billions in revenue, they haven’t distributed any of that to their investors.” www.bbc.com/...