Meta Operating Expenses Breakdown: R&D, Marketing, and G&A

Come Monday Morning. Source: Flickr Image

Meta Platforms, Inc., (NASDAQ: META), incurs a significant portion of operating expenses. This article looks into the operating expenses of the social media giant.

Let’s find out!

You may find related statistic of Meta Platforms, Inc., on these pages:

Sales

• Meta revenue and profit by segment,
• Meta revenue by region and country: U.S., China, Europe, etc.,

Costs and Expenses

• Meta total costs and expenses analysis,

Comparison With Peers

• R&D comparison,
• Meta profit margin,
• Cash Flow comparison,
• Debt comparison,

Please use the table of contents to navigate this page.

Definitions

To help readers understand the content better, the following terms and glossaries have been provided.

Research And Development Expenses: According to Meta’s 2025 annual report, Meta’s research and development expenses consist mostly of payroll and related expenses which include share-based compensation, Reality Labs technology development costs, facilities-related costs for employees on engineering and technical teams who are responsible for developing new products as well as improving existing products, and restructuring charges.

Marketing And Sales expense: According to Meta’s 2025 annual report, Meta’s marketing and sales expenses consist mainly of marketing and promotional expenses as well as payroll and related expenses which include share-based compensation for employees engaged in sales, sales support, marketing, business development, and customer service functions.

In addition, Meta’s marketing and sales expenses also include professional services such as content reviewers to support its community and product operations and restructuring charges.

General And Administrative Expenses: According to Meta’s 2025 annual report, Meta’s general and administrative expenses consist primarily of legal-related costs, which include estimated fines, settlements, or other losses in connection with legal and related matters, as well as other legal fees; payroll and related expenses which include share-based compensation for certain of its executives as well as legal, finance, human resources, corporate communications and policy, and other administrative employees; other taxes, such as digital services taxes and other non-income-based tax levies; professional services and restructuring charges.

Back To Table Of Contents

Insight & Summary of Meta’s Operating Expenses Breakdown Analysis

The following analysis consolidates the trends observed for Meta’s operating expense breakdown, expense mix, ratio to revenue, and YoY growth rates for the 2017–2025 period.

• Throughout this timeframe, Meta has executed a profound structural shift in its operating expense profile, aggressively prioritizing Research & Development (R&D) while strictly rationalizing its Marketing & Sales (M&S) footprint.

• R&D spending has scaled dramatically from $7.75 billion in 2017 to $57.37 billion by 2025, expanding its share of the total expense mix from 51.7% to a dominant 70.4%.

• Conversely, M&S has experienced severe downward pressure, with its percentage of total operating expenses more than halving from 31.5% to 14.7%, underscored by consecutive years of negative absolute growth between 2023 and 2024.

• The 2022–2025 period highlights extreme cyclicality driven by strategic recalibrations. Following bloated operating ratios in 2022 — where total OpEx consumed 53.5% of revenue — the company enacted aggressive austerity in 2023, yielding a 0.4% YoY contraction in overall operating expenses.

• However, this stabilization was short-lived. By 2025, robust reinvestment cycles (largely directed toward R&D, which surged 30.8% YoY) pushed total OpEx growth back to 25.5% YoY.

• Despite this renewed spending velocity, enhanced revenue generation has preserved operational leverage, keeping the total OpEx-to-revenue ratio anchored near a healthy 40.6% in 2025.

The table below combines all key operating expense metrics, expense mix, ratio to revenue, and growth rates into a single view for the latest three fiscal years.

Back To Table Of Contents

Operating Expenses Breakdown

Meta’s definitions of R&D, Marketing & Sales (M&S), and General & Administrative (G&A) are available here: R&D, M&S, and G&A.

Back To Table Of Contents

Operating Expenses Breakdown In Percentage

Meta’s definitions of R&D, Marketing & Sales (M&S), and General & Administrative (G&A) are available here: R&D, M&S, and G&A.

Back To Table Of Contents

Operating Expenses to Revenue Ratio

Meta’s definitions of R&D, Marketing & Sales (M&S), and General & Administrative (G&A) are available here: R&D, M&S, and G&A.

Back To Table Of Contents

Operating Expenses YoY Growth Rates

Meta’s definitions of R&D, Marketing & Sales (M&S), and General & Administrative (G&A) are available here: R&D, M&S, and G&A.

Back To Table Of Contents

References and Credits

1. All financial figures presented are obtained from Meta’s annual reports published on the company’s investor relations page: Meta Investor Relations.

2. Pexels Images.

Back To Table Of Contents

Disclosure

We may utilize the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to produce some of the text in this article. However, the data is directly obtained from original sources and meticulously cross-checked by our editors multiple times to ensure its accuracy and reliability.

If you find the information in this article helpful, please consider sharing it on social media. Additionally, providing a link back to this article from any website can help us create more content like this in the future.

Thank you for your support and engagement! Your involvement helps us continue to provide high-quality, reliable content.

Back To Table Of Contents