Metaverse’s $4B deficit dampens promising Q1 for Meta

The Mark Zuckerberg-led social media empire posted a final profit of $5.7 billion despite a nearly $4 billion loss from its metaverse unit with Reality Labs during the first quarter (Q1).

While the $4 billion loss comes on the heels of a $14 billion loss in 2022, Zuckerberg explained in the earnings report that Reality Labs will likely incur additional losses throughout the remainder of 2023.

“We continue to expect that Reality Labs’ operating losses will increase year-over-year in 2023,” predicted Zuckerberg.

Reality Labs’ losses were offset by the company’s advancements in its artificial intelligence (AI) segment, according to the company’s chief executive.

“Our AI work is driving good results across our apps and business. We’re also becoming more efficient so we can build better products faster and put ourselves in a stronger position to deliver our long-term vision.”

While Zuckerberg recently described AI as the company’s “single largest investment,” he stated that Meta’s metaverse ambitions continue to be the company’s top priority.

“A rumor has developed that we are somehow shifting our focus away from the metaverse vision, so I want to state upfront that this is false.” “We’ve been concentrating on AI and the metaverse for years, and we’ll continue to do so,” he said.

In addition, Zuckerberg clarified how metaverse technology will assist AI goals and vice versa.

“Metaverse technology will also help deliver AI as well. For example, embodying AI agents will take advantage of the deep investment that we’ve made in Avatars over the last several years.”

In a February 28 Facebook post, Zuckerberg explained that the company is developing a suite of creative and expressive tools that can “turbocharge” the efficiency of some of its existing products:

“Over the longer term, we’ll focus on developing AI personas that can help people in a variety of ways. We’re exploring experiences with text (like chat in WhatsApp and Messenger), with images (like creative Instagram filters and ad formats), and with video and multi-modal experiences

However, Zuckerberg stated that the company has “a lot of groundwork to do” before it can offer “truly futuristic experiences” to its audience.

According to Google Finance, Meta stock jumped 11.7% following news of its better-than-expected first quarter.