Meta’s Zuckerberg remains hopeful despite $3.7 billion metaverse loss in Q2

Meta’s metaverse-related division Reality Labs posted $3.7 billion in operating losses in the second quarter of this year, but the social media giant said it remains “fully committed” to metaverse development.

The unit recorded $276 million in revenue in the second quarter of this year, down from $452 million in the same period last year, according to Meta’s latest earnings results released Wednesday.

“As our investments in AI continue, we remain fully committed to the metaverse vision as well,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in an earnings call. “We've been working on both of these two major priorities for many years in parallel now, and in many ways the two areas are overlapping and complementary.”

Susan Li, chief financial officer of Meta, said Reality Labs’ expenses amounted to $4 billion in the second quarter, “up 23% due to lapping a reduction in Reality Labs loss reserves in Q2 of last year as well as growth in employee-related costs.”

The $3.7 billion second-quarter loss came after the division reported a $4 billion loss in the previous quarter and $2.8 billion in the same quarter last year.

Metaverse still a focus

Despite the heavy losses, Zuckerberg said the company still believes in the potential of both the metaverse and AI.

“I've said on a number of these calls that the two technological waves that we're riding are AI in the near term and the metaverse over the longer term,” he said.

Overall, Meta reported $7.79 billion in profits for the quarter, up 16% from the same period last year. Its revenue grew 11% year-on-year to $32 billion in the quarter.

Meta’s stock closed 1.39% higher on Wednesday and was up 6.89% in after-hours trading.