Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg tries on Orion AR glasses at the Meta Connect annual event at the company’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California, U.S., September 25, 2024. REUTERS/Manuel Orbegozo
Manuel Orbegozo | Reuters
Meta is continuing to sink billions of dollars a quarter into the metaverse.
In its first-quarter earnings report on Wednesday, Meta said its Reality Labs unit recorded an operating loss of $4.2 billion in the period while bringing in $412 million in sales. Analysts were projecting an operating loss of $4.6 billion on revenue of $492.7 million.
Meta’s Reality Labs unit is responsible for the company’s Quest-branded virtual reality headsets and Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses. It’s the key business unit that anchors CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s plans to build a new computing platform involving digital worlds accessible via VR and augmented reality devices.
Reality Labs has reported cumulative losses of more than $60 billion since late 2020, including a loss of $3.85 billion in the first quarter of last year. In late 2021, Zuckerberg changed the name of his company from Facebook to Meta.
Wall Street has questioned Meta’s big spending on the metaverse, which Zuckerberg has said could take many years to turn into a real business. The company must now also contend with sweeping new tariffs from President Donald Trump and the likely increase in costs that will follow, potentially leading to higher-priced devices.
Last week, Meta said that an unspecified number of Reality Labs employees were laid off. Those workers were part of the Oculus Studios unit, which creates VR and AR games and content for Quest VR headsets.
“Some teams within Oculus Studios are undergoing shifts in structure and roles that have impacted team size,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement about the cuts. “These changes are meant to help Studios work more efficiently on future mixed reality experiences for our growing audience, while still delivering great content for people today.”
WATCH: Big Tech earnings on deck.
