During the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call, Mark Zuckerberg stated that he saw no reason to stray from the company’s long-term metaverse plan.
Despite operational losses for its Reality Labs division peaking in 2022, Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the firm has no plans to modify its long-term strategy for the metaverse.
Reality Labs lost $13.7 billion in 2022, the most ever reported for its metaverse-building business, according to figures disclosed by Meta on February 1.
The fourth quarter was costly, with the division losing about $4.3 billion, the division’s most significant quarterly loss since financials for the firm was initially reported.
On a February 1 earnings call, Zuckerberg reaffirmed the company’s metaverse plan. In response to a query regarding how the firm’s efficiency relates to Reality Labs, he stated:
“None of the signals I’ve seen so far suggest that we should shift the Reality Labs strategy long term.”
Following the October release of its Quest Pro Virtual Reality (VR) headset, he said that the business would offer another “next generation consumer headset” later in 2023.
Susan Li, Meta’s chief financial officer, also doubled down on the Reality Labs division, confirming Zuckerberg’s comments from a Q3 earnings call that losses will escalate in 2023.
“We still expect our full-year Reality Labs losses to increase in 2023, and we’re gonna continue to invest meaningfully in this area given the significant long-term opportunities that we see.”
Meta’s total sales for the fourth quarter were $32.1 billion, above Wall Street projections.
According to Yahoo Finance, Meta’s stock price jumped after the bell due to higher-than-expected revenue statistics.
