Despite the 11% year-on-year (YoY) revenue growth, Meta’s ambitious metaverse arm Reality Labs is expected to continue experiencing losses. The company’s earnings have hit a whopping $32 billion in Q2 2023, marking one of the most prosperous quarters since Meta’s transition from Facebook in 2021. However, Reality Labs remains a less successful endeavour.
Despite the significant boost in Meta’s net income, from $6.7 billion in Q2 2022 to $7.79 billion in Q2 2023, the company’s earnings report left the losses incurred by Reality Labs unspecified. The report did, however, note that the metaverse unit anticipates more financial setbacks in the future.
The report stated, “We expect a few factors to be drivers of total expense growth in 2024 as we continue to invest in our most compelling opportunities, including Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the metaverse. For Reality Labs, we expect operating losses to increase meaningfully year-over-year due to our ongoing product development efforts in Augmented Reality (AR)/Virtual Reality (VR) and investments to further scale our ecosystem.”
Reality Labs, which is primarily focused on advancing the metaverse, suffered substantial losses in 2022, amounting to a staggering $13.7 billion. Nonetheless, Meta’s commitment to exploring the potential of this emerging technology remains undeterred.
In an effort to quantify the potential of the metaverse, Meta commissioned a study in May 2023. The research estimated that by 2035, the metaverse could contribute a substantial $760 billion, roughly 2.4%, to the annual US GDP.
Last year, the economic downturn and Apple’s data privacy amendments, which purportedly hindered ad personalisation, dealt Meta a heavy blow. The company was forced to reconsider its strategy, leading to drastic cost-cutting measures.
Meta began the year by laying off over 11,000 employees, a first among Big Tech companies. In April, a further 4,000 employees were let go. These tough decisions, combined with internal restructuring, might have contributed to Meta’s impressive profit in Q2 2023.
However, the financial performance of Meta’s metaverse unit lingers as a significant concern. As the company navigates the challenges ahead, the metaverse project will be one to watch closely. Whether Meta’s gamble on this new frontier of technology will pay off remains to be seen.
