Meta is projecting “significantly” higher losses in 2023 for the unit overseeing its development due to the pursuit of the metaverse. This could prove to be a further pain for the company, but CEO Mark Zuckerberg seems ok with it.
If reports are to be believed, he urged investors to be patient, saying those who invest in Meta will “end up being rewarded.”
This did not satisfy Wall Street. Meta’s share price declined nearly 20% in after-hours trade on Wednesday to $104.30 following the company’s earnings announcement, and they are now down almost 70% this year.
During a call with analysts, Zuckerberg said, “I get that many people might disagree with this investment. But from what I can tell, I think that this is going to be an essential thing. It would be a mistake for us not to focus on any of these areas, which I think will be fundamentally important to the future.”
Reality Lab is Meta’s unit which oversees the metaverse activities, reported $3.67 billion in losses for the third quarter of 2022, which ended on September 30. The division’s total losses since 2021 to just under $20 billion.
“We do anticipate that Reality Labs operating losses in 2023 will grow significantly year-over-year,” David Wehner, the CFO of Meta, said in a press release.
This is still an early version of the final product, with a long way to go.
