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Meta expects Reality Labs to continue losing money

Meta expects Reality Labs to keep losing money, but sees long-term benefits.

Donovan Erskine

February 1, 2023 3:40 PM

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One of the more notable tidbits of information found in Meta’s Q4 2022 earnings report was that Facebook Reality Labs, a division of the company focused on VR, lost $4.28 billion in the quarter and $13.7 billion in 2022. During the subsequent earnings call, the topic of Facebook Reality Labs and its billions of dollars in losses came up. However, Meta didn’t provide much optimism on that front. The company expects Reality Labs to continue losing money, but it’s committed because it believes in the long-term benefits.

During Meta’s Q4 2022 earnings call, executives at the company spoke about the results of its earnings report. Susan Li, Meta’s CFO, was the one that made the comment about the future of Reality Labs. “We expect our full-year Reality Labs losses to increase in 2023, and we’re going to continue to invest meaningfully in this area given the long-term opportunities that we see” Meta has been heavily investing its brand (and finances) into virtual reality and the Metaverse. That won’t change, even if it’s not showing economic returns.

She went on to defend the company’s stance on the matter. “It is a long-duration investment, and our investments here are underpinned by the accompanying need to drive profit growth while we’re making these investments.” Although Meta lost $13.7 billion on Reality Labs in 2022, the company’s full-year revenue was a staggering $116.6 billion.

Meta outright stating that it expects to lose more money on Reality Labs doesn’t necessarily inspire confidence in the company’s Metaverse ambitions, but it strongly believes that it’ll pay off in the long run. For more news out of the Meta Q4 2022 earnings call, Shacknews has everything you need to know.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a young journalist from Maryland, who likes to game. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge Scream nerd and film fanatic that will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_