An avatar of Mark Zuckerberg, chief government officer of Meta Platforms Inc., speaks throughout the digital Meta Connect occasion in New York, US, on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg retains racking up losses from his metaverse investments whereas downsizing his social media firm via value cuts.
In its first-quarter earnings report on Wednesday, Meta stated its Reality Labs unit, which is tasked with constructing the digital actuality and augmented actuality applied sciences for the futuristic metaverse, recorded a $3.99 billion working loss.
The unit generated $339 million in income throughout the quarter, a miniscule sum for a corporation that brings in tens of billions of {dollars} 1 / 4 in promoting gross sales.
The numbers present a slowdown from final quarter, when Reality Labs misplaced $4.28 billion on $727 million of income.
For all of final 12 months, Reality Labs recorded an working lack of $13.72 billion on $2.16 billion in gross sales, underscoring how VR and AR applied sciences have but to succeed in the mainstream.
Zuckerberg has touted 2023 as the corporate’s “year of efficiency” and has applied main cost-cutting initiatives that embody layoffs focusing on an anticipated 21,000 staff.
But whereas the corporate slims down, it is nonetheless pumping billions of {dollars} into the metaverse after altering its title from Facebook to Meta in late 2021.
Data offered to CNBC by analysis agency NPD Group confirmed that gross sales of VR headsets within the U.S. declined 2% year-over-year in 2022 as of December, as the vacation season did not spark a rush of latest purchases.
In March, Meta reduce the value of its Quest 2 VR headset in addition to the high-end Quest Pro. The Quest 2 now prices $70 lower than earlier than, promoting for $430, whereas the value of the Quest Pro was decreased by $500 from its unique worth to $1,000.
Watch: Investors ought to search for Meta’s advert income in earnings
Source: www.cnbc.com”