Meta’s metaverse lab has lost $40B since Facebook changed its name in 2021
Despite the losses, the company’s other endeavors pushed it to record profits in Q4 2023 with gains expected to continue through Q1 2024.
When Facebook changed its name to Meta in September of 2021 it became clear CEO Mark Zuckerberg was fully committed to the pivot from web2 social media to the metaverse. Now, three years later, we can take a look at just how (financially) committed the company has been as well as what impact the expansion into virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR) has had on Meta’s bottom line ahead of its first quarter earnings call set for 24 April.
Meta posted a reported revenue of $134.90 billion in 2023, up nearly 16% over 2022. Its fourth quarter revenue of $40.1 billion set a company record and beat analysts’ predictions. This would seem to indicate that the pivot towards the metaverse has panned out well for the company, but there are mixed signals to interpret ahead of the next call.
While Facebook, the social media app, is doing quite well, Meta’s Reality Labs — the research division responsible for products such as the Quest VR headset line — has posted successive year-over-year operating losses totaling around $40 billion since 2021.
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