Meta Again Loses Billions on Metaverse Operations in Q2
Meta Platforms has recorded another quarter of massive losses on its metaverse operations.
The company, that owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, released its Q2 earning report on Wednesday, reporting a $2.81 billion loss on in its Facebook Reality Labs (FRL) operations.
Its augmented (AR) and virtual reality (VR) division, did slightly better than Q1 of 2022, where it made a $2.96 billion loss and even performed better than financial analysts’ predictions of $3.67 billion in the red.
FRL’s revenue in the second quarter was $452 million, compared to $695 million in the first quarter. That’s just a fraction of the entire Meta revenue of $28.4 billion generated during the quarter.
The company also said to expect Reality Labs’ revenue in the third quarter to be lower than in the second.
On the company’s earnings call with analysts, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company is rather focused on its long-term metaverse and is therefore not in panic following the nevertheless disappointing numbers. Zuckerberg said:
“Developing these [metaverse] platforms could unlock hundreds of billions if not trillions in revenue over time.”
Meta Readying for the Next Decade
Zuckerberg made it clear that regardless of the recent losses on its metaverse projects, Meta is still “laying the groundwork for a very successful 2030s.” In 2021 when FRL was set up, it made immediate losses of $10.2 billion.
Speaking with CNBC late June, the CEO had shared his outlook on the metaverse’s profitability and confirmed its timeline:
“We hope to, basically, get to around a billion people in the metaverse doing hundreds of dollars of commerce each.
People could be buying digital goods, digital content, [or] different things to express themselves in the new reality.”
With shares already down 50% since the beginning of the year, the platform’s Q2 numbers pushed shares down another 4% in after-hours trading.
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Source: igaming
