ASSOCIATED PRESS
“Mark Zuckerberg vows Meta’s unwavering dedication to the metaverse.”
Meta, formerly known as Facebook, has reported its best quarter since 2021, despite incurring significant losses in its metaverse endeavors. The company anticipates even higher losses in the coming year.
During the second quarter of 2023, Reality Labs, the Meta division responsible for virtual and augmented reality projects, recorded a loss of $3.7 billion while generating $276 million in revenue, according to the company’s latest earnings report. Meta’s CFO, Susan Li, stated that the losses at Reality Labs are expected to “increase meaningfully” compared to the previous year, where losses exceeded $13 billion.
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, attempted to downplay the significance of the losses during the company’s earnings call, stating, “We remain fully committed to the metaverse vision.” When questioned about the company’s metaverse spending, Zuckerberg highlighted the upcoming Quest 3 headset, which is set to launch at Meta’s Connect event in September. He emphasized the expenses associated with bringing the headset to market, referring to it as the company’s most significant release since 2020.
Despite the metaverse losses, Meta reported a strong quarter with $32 billion in revenue, marking an 11 percent increase from the previous year. Zuckerberg highlighted the success of Reels, which now garner 200 billion views per day on Facebook and Instagram, thanks to the company’s focus on AI-driven recommendations. He also mentioned the recent launch of Threads and the Llama 2 large language model as notable achievements.
Regarding Threads, although early analytics data suggests a decline in engagement since its launch, Zuckerberg expressed optimism, stating that more users are returning daily than anticipated. He sees the potential for the app to eventually reach “hundreds of millions” of users.
Meta confirmed that the majority of its layoffs, totaling more than 20,000 jobs since last fall, have been “substantially completed.” Zuckerberg previously referred to 2023 as Meta’s “year of efficiency”, as the company underwent staff reductions and streamlined its management structure. He cited the launch of Threads, which was overseen by a relatively small team, as evidence of the positive impact of “cultural changes” within Meta.
However, Zuckerberg did not provide a specific timeline for when the company’s metaverse investments would begin to yield returns. He acknowledged the skepticism of some investors but expressed his conviction that the metaverse represents the future.