Oops, Facebook is losing more money than ever in the metaverse
New elements
Meta , the parent company of Facebook , just revealed its financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2022, and it looks like the metaverse isn’t doing too well. Specifically, the company’s ambitious venture is losing more money than ever , with Mark Zuckerberg asking investors to trust his big risk.
Elaborating on the revelation of the new financials, Zuckerberg addressed those who doubt the metaverse, stressing:
Look, I understand that many people may disagree with this investment, but I think it will turn into something very important. People will look back in a decade and talk about the importance of the work being done here.
Of course, despite Zuckerberg’s reassuring and bombastic statements, the numbers are truly shocking. Meta’s Reality Labs, which is responsible for the metaverse, the development of the company’s VR headsets and more, lost a total of $3.7 billion in the last quarter, while a total of 9.4 billion has been lost so far in the year . In terms of revenue, the division filled the coffers with only $285 million in the last quarter. That’s a huge drop of nearly 50%, which is mostly attributed to lower sales of the Quest 2 VR headset, which saw a $100 price increase in August.
In fact, Meta warned investors of an even redder 2023, stating:
We expect losses for Reality Labs in 2023 to increase significantly.
All of this sent Meta’s share price into a tailspin, falling 20% after announcing that its revenue growth fell 4%.
In closing, it’s worth mentioning that Zuckerberg tried to give investors some reasons to be optimistic, pointing out that Facebook has more daily users than ever before, while Instagram and WhatsApp both have over 2 billion users.
