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☆ Mark Zuckerberg 's net worth plummets by more than $18 billion from Meta stock drop
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Mark Zuckerberg's net worth plunged by $18 billion Thursday after comments from the Meta CEO on the earnings call sent his company's stock price to its steepest decline since October 2022. Meta said it plans to spend $35 billion to $40 billion Meta on capital expenditures this year, an increase from its prior forecast. Zuckerberg's fortune has swung up and down through the years, as his company's stock has been particularly volatile. His net worth fell by around $100 billion in 2022. In early 2022, he lost almost $30 billion in a single day, when his company's stock price tumbled 26% on weak earnings and disappointing guidance.

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, Mark Zuckerberg's, Zuckerberg, Meta Organizations: Facebook, Paley Center For Media, Meta, Harvard, Reality Labs Locations: New York

☆ Meta's Reality Labs posts $3.85 billion loss in first quarter
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Alex Koller | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Facebook co-founder and chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, speaks at an Oculus developers conference while wearing a virtual reality headset in San Jose, California. Meta shows no signs of substantially trimming its losses from investing in the metaverse, as competition heightens between the Facebook parent and Apple in the virtual reality market. In its first-quarter earnings report Wednesday, Meta disclosed that its Reality Labs unit recorded a $3.85 billion operating loss. Analysts were expecting a $4.31 billion operating loss and sales of $512.5 million for the quarter, according to StreetAccount. Reality Labs has now lost more than $45 billion since the end of 2020, when Meta first began reporting the business segment separately.

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, Meta Organizations: Facebook, Apple, Reality Labs, Revenue, Meta Locations: San Jose , California

☆ Meta aims to reveal and demo Orion, its first true AR glasses, during its fall developer conference
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-27 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Meta plans to show off years of work on new augmented reality glasses during its developer conference this year. While the AR glasses will not be for sale to the public after the reveal, a handful of employees are already experimenting with advanced prototypes, one of the people noted. The AR glasses are a separate product from Meta's better-known Ray-Ban smart glasses and Quest headsets. He posted a photo to Threads earlier this month showing several versions of Meta glasses on his desk. So far, Meta's AR glasses are costly to produce, much less sell at retail.

Persons: what's, Ray, Andrew Bosworth, Mark Zuckerberg, Bosworth, Kali Hays Organizations: Orion, Reality Labs Locations: khays@insider.com

☆ Knockout Meta profit wasn't even the best surprise of the quarter for investors
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-01 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | In Kevinstankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

Generative AI, as expected, was a big focus of the earnings call. He also noted the company's advanced virtual assistant, Meta AI, was made fully available in the U.S. by the end of 2023, and the firm is testing more than a dozen other generative AI features. But investors across the tech industry are increasingly wondering when all the spending on generative AI will translate to revenue – and that's no different for Meta. Nevertheless, Li said Meta's suite of generative AI tools for advertisers is its biggest near-term monetization opportunity. Further down the road, Li indicated that business messaging is another compelling opportunity to make money from generative AI.

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg's, Meta, Zuckerberg, Susan Li, Mark Zuckerberg, Li, EssilorLuxottica, Jim Cramer, Ray, Meta's, it's, Jim Cramer's, Jim, Justin Sullivan Organizations: Revenue, LSEG, Meta, Reality Labs, Daily, Facebook, Management, Quest, VR, Apple, Vision, UBS, Pro, CNBC Locations: —, Instagram, U.S, Menlo Park , California

☆ Facebook is turning 20. Now Mark Zuckerberg is figuring out what comes next for Meta.
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-28 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read previewMark Zuckerberg has been steering the ship since he cofounded Facebook almost 20 years ago. Unlike some of the other founding fathers of major tech firms, the Meta CEO has not yet handed over the reins to someone else. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Meta didn't respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Persons: —, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Larry Page, Zuckerberg, Josh Edelson, Linette Lopez, Andrew Bosworth, it's, It's, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett Organizations: Service, Facebook, Business, Meta, Getty, Bloomberg, Reality Labs, Microsoft, Berkshire Hathaway Locations: AFP, Berkshire

☆ Adobe is selling AI-generated images of the Israel-Hamas war, and some websites are using them without marking that they're fake
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Kylie Kirschner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Adobe is selling AI-generated images that depict the Israel-Hamas war in varying degrees of realism. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdobe is selling AI-generated images depicting the Israel-Hamas war. Adobe Stock, which sells images submitted by individual artists, requires that all AI-generated images on the platform be labeled as such. AdvertisementAdvertisementOne AI-generated image is titled "Wounded Israeli woman clings to military man, begging for help." AI images can often look "plasticky" or overly-stylized, and might have aesthetic inconsistencies in their lighting, shapes, or other details.

Persons: —, it's, Henry Ajder, Ajder Organizations: Adobe, Service, Hamas, Adobe Stock, Google, Meta's Reality Labs Locations: Israel, Palestine, Gaza, israel, palestine

☆ Meta continues to burn through cash for its flailing metaverse and VR project, which lost $3.7 billion in the 3rd quarter
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Meta's Reality Labs division lost $3.7 billion in the third quarter. Meta said Reality Labs' revenue was down 26% this quarter, but it's still a "major long-term focus." Meta posted its third-quarter earnings report on Wednesday, which showed that Reality Labs lost $3.7 billion, the same amount as the previous quarter. Reality Labs is responsible for Meta's VR and metaverse push. It seems that Zuckerberg is exercising patience in seeing whether Reality Labs can reach profitability.

Persons: Meta, it's, —, Zuckerberg, Susan Li, they'd, Meta didn't Organizations: Reality Labs, Labs, Service, Meta, VR, Reuters, Staff

☆ CNBC Daily Open: Meta outperformance
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( Clement Tan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)This report is from today's CNBC Daily Open, our new, international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. In its third-quarter earnings report, the Facebook parent said revenue increased 23%, its fastest rate of growth since 2021. Meta is seeing faster growth in its core digital advertising business as clients rebound from a tough 2022. Meta said it expects revenue of $36.5 billion to $40 billion for the fourth quarter.

Persons: Stocks, Spencer Platt, Ford, Mattel, Meta, Mark Zuckerberg’s, Susan Li, —, Jonathan Vanian Organizations: NEW, New York Stock Exchange, Labor Department, Getty, CNBC, Labor, United Auto Workers, IBM, Wall, Google, Meta, Labs, Treasury Locations: New York City, China, Israel

☆ 'Harry Potter' audiobook narrator Stephen Fry said AI was used to steal his voice, and warned that convincing deepfake videos of celebrities will be next
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Actor Stephen Fry issued a warning about AI cloning his voice at the CogX Festival on Thursday. Fry said his readings of the "Harry Potter" audiobooks were input into an AI and used to create new audio. Fry said it won't be long before AI is used to create "deepfake videos" of actors without consent. "They used my reading of the seven volumes of the Harry Potter books, and from that dataset, an AI of my voice was created, and it made that new narration." "It won't be long until full deepfake videos are just as convincing," he said.

Persons: Stephen Fry, Fry, Harry Potter, Duncan Crabtree Ireland, Henry Ajder Organizations: Service, Fortune, SAG, Meta's Reality Labs Locations: Wall, Silicon

☆ Meta's VR technology is helping to train surgeons and treat patients, though costs remain a hurdle
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-09 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +14 min

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesJust days before assisting in his first major shoulder-replacement surgery last year, Dr. Jake Shine strapped on a virtual reality headset and got to work. Kettering Health Dayton is one of dozens of health systems in the U.S. working with emerging technologies like VR as one tool for helping doctors to train on and treat patients. Since the beginning of last year, Meta's Reality Labs unit, which develops the company's VR and AR, has lost over $21 billion. Meta Quest 3 VR headset. "The first virtual reality headset that I used was this big clunky headset that had all these wires it had to be connected to a laptop to function."

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, David Paul Morris, Jake Shine, Shine, Zuckerberg, didn't, Jan Herzhoff, Brennan Spiegel, Spiegel, Caitlin Rawlins, Rawlins, there's, Brent Bamberger, Reem, she's, it's, Daboul, PrecisionOS, Danny Goel, Richard Miller, he's, Miller, They're, It's, Goel, Kettering's Bamberger, Rafael Grossmann, Grossmann, Glass, Hollie Adams Organizations: Bloomberg, Getty, Kettering Health Dayton, CNBC, Meta, VR, Facebook, Labs, Apple, Elsevier Health's, U.S . Department of Veterans Affairs, Spiegel, Software, Doctors, PrecisionOS, University of Rochester, Portsmouth Regional Hospital, Google, of Fine Locations: San Jose , California, U.S, Ohio, Sinai, Los Angeles, Cedars, New Hampshire, Mayfair , London

☆ Meta’s Reality Labs has now lost more than $21 billion since the beginning of last year
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Analysts polled by StreetAccount were projecting Reality Labs to record $421 million in sales and $3.5 billion in operating losses. Meta reported second-quarter earnings on Wednesday and said that its Reality Labs unit, which develops virtual reality and augmented reality technologies needed to power the metaverse, logged a $3.7 billion operating loss. Last year, Meta's Reality Labs unit lost a total of $13.7 billion while bringing in $2.16 billion in revenue, which is driven in part by the company's sales of Quest-branded VR headsets. Reality Labs lost $3.99 billion during the first quarter. Meta said in its earnings report that it expects operating losses in its Reality Labs unit "to increase meaningfully year-over-year due to our ongoing product development efforts in augmented reality/virtual reality and investments to further scale our ecosystem."

Persons: Meta, Zuckerberg Organizations: Meta, StreetAccount, Reality Labs, Labs, Quest Pro, VR, Apple, Qualcomm

☆ Twitter is rebranding to X. Here are 5 more tech companies that controversially changed their names or faced backlash.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Here are five more tech companies which changed their names — some controversially, and others leading to success. From The Facebook to Facebook, then MetaMark Zuckerberg at Harvard University, three months after The Facebook was created. But the business plan was first written for a company called Cadabra, as in a magician's "Abracadabra." Before Twitter became X, X.com became PayPalPeter Thiel, left, and Elon Musk, right, hold VISA credit cards branded with the X.com company logo on October 20, 2000. Paul Sakuma/APElon Musk cofounded the online payment company X.com in 1999 before it merged with Peter Thiel's Confinity a year later.

Persons: Elon Musk, Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Rick Friedman, Sean Parker, Justin Timberlake, Zuckerberg, that's, Frances Haugen, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, Martin Magunia, Brin, Sundar Pichai, Mike Krieger, Kevin Systrom, Stephen Chernin Instagram, Andreessen Horowitz, Krieger, Systrom, Instagram, Jeff Bezos, Evan Agostini, —, Bezos, Mackenzie Scott, X.com, PayPal Peter Thiel, Paul Sakuma, AP Elon Musk, Peter Thiel's Confinity, Jimmy Soni's, Thiel, Walter Isaacson Organizations: Twitter, PayPal, Morning, Facebook, Harvard University, Meta, VR, Reality Labs, Google, Getty, Stanford, Microsoft, REUTERS, Baseline Ventures, Stanford University, Inc, Amazon, AP Elon, eBay Locations: Burbn

☆ Elon Musk joked that he took 'too much' anti-aging formula in response to a viral AI-generated image of him as a baby on Twitter
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A fake AI-generated image of Elon Musk as a baby has racked up 4.5 million views on Twitter. Fake images of Musk kissing robot wives and in other bizarre scenarios have gone viral on Twitter. One image of Musk as a child is making the rounds on Twitter and has racked up 4.5 million views. The parody account that posted it captioned the fake image: "BREAKING: Elon Musk was reportedly working on some anti aging formula but it got way out of hand." Recently images of Musk kissing "robot wives" were spreading on the platform but were quickly revealed to be created by AI.

Persons: Elon Musk, Musk, Henry Ajder, Pope Francis, Donald Trump, it's, Ajder Organizations: Twitter, Meta's Reality Labs

☆ Zuckerberg unveils Meta's latest VR headset days before Apple reveals its own
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Delon Thornton | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailZuckerberg unveils Meta's latest VR headset days before Apple reveals its ownThe Quest 3 will be priced starting at $499 and is the successor to Meta's Quest 2 headset, which was released in the fall of 2020 at a starting price of $299. Apple is expected to debut its competing VR headset next week as part of the company's June WWDC event. Meta's Reality Labs unit, which is developing VR and AR technologies, recorded an operating loss of $3.99 billion in the company's first quarter while generating $339 million in revenue.

Persons: Zuckerberg, Meta's Organizations: Apple, Labs

☆ Meta's Reality Labs records $3.99 billion quarterly loss as Zuckerberg pumps more cash into metaverse
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg keeps racking up losses from his metaverse investments while downsizing his social media company through cost cuts. In its first-quarter earnings report on Wednesday, Meta said its Reality Labs unit, which is tasked with building the virtual reality and augmented reality technologies for the futuristic metaverse, recorded a $3.99 billion operating loss. The numbers show a slowdown from last quarter, when Reality Labs lost $4.28 billion on $727 million of revenue. For all of last year, Reality Labs recorded an operating loss of $13.72 billion on $2.16 billion in sales, underscoring how VR and AR technologies have yet to reach the mainstream. In March, Meta cut the price of its Quest 2 VR headset as well as the high-end Quest Pro.

As part of Meta's latest round of job cuts announced in March, the company on Wednesday started laying off employees in technical roles. A Meta spokesperson confirmed to CNBC the cuts had started. Gameplay engineers work on virtual and augmented reality products, according to a Meta job listing. With ad revenue slumping last year and its stock price in free-fall, Facebook's parent announced its first round of layoffs in November, affecting some 11,000 workers. As Zuckerberg said at the time, the new round of April layoffs targets technical workers.

☆ Facebook’s parent company Meta is doing layoffs again. But there’s one ‘safe’ team that could actually benefit from the job cuts.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Netflix is ending its DVD-rental service that started the company over two decades ago. Gaming is 'safe' at Facebook's parent company Meta. But multiple people told my colleague Kali Hays that gaming within Meta's Reality Labs division will likely remain immune — and perhaps actually benefit — from the job cuts. One person told Kali that after the layoffs are done, the team will be able to start hiring again. The hit Netflix reality show captivated US audiences.

☆ Inside Mark Zuckerberg's new ambitions for metaverse gaming, an area likely 'safe' from layoffs coming this week
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Gaming in Reality Labs is now seen as "safe" for workers as new layoffs begin. Gaming within Meta's Reality Labs division is getting more attention and resources as the company continues to reorganize during what Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg dubbed the "Year of Efficiency." Increased focus on gaming from Reality Labs is a shift for Zuckerberg. Besides gaming, Zuckerberg and Bosworth have publicly commented on the importance of AI at the company, with the metaverse taking a backseat. Meta now recognizes internally that traditional gaming is the most likely path to gaining financial ground with Reality Labs, one of the people familiar noted.

☆ Fake images of Donald Trump and Pope Francis caused a stir. Here's 4 ways to tell if an image is AI-generated.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-09 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Fake images of Donald Trump's arrest and Pope Francis in a coat recently fooled the internet. AI experts shared four tips to identify deepfakes including reverse image search and fact-checking. The more subtle ones like Pope Francis can "slowly just chip away at our trust in visual media and make it harder to navigate the truth." Try a reverse image searchIf all else fails, Ajder suggested using a reverse image search tool to find the context of an image. Ajder recommended Google Lens or Yandex's visual search function for reverse image search capabilities.

☆ Mark Zuckerberg is spending most of his time on A.I., says Meta CTO
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Mark Zuckerberg told the world in Oct. 2021 that he was rebranding Facebook to Meta as the company pushes toward the metaverse. Meta has its own large language model called LLaMa that it said in February it would release to researchers. Large language models power applications like OpenAI's ChatGPT, Microsoft Bing AI, and Google's Bard. Bosworth told Nikkei that he expects the company will debut some commercial applications using AI this year, and it could help the company's profit-driving ad business. Still, Bosworth told Nikkei that Meta could also use AI in the metaverse.

☆ An AI researcher who has been warning about the technology for over 20 years says we should 'shut it all down,' and issue an 'indefinite and worldwide' ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

One AI researcher who has been warning about the tech for over 20 years said to "shut it all down." Eliezer Yudkowsky said the open letter calling for a pause on AI development doesn't go far enough. Yudkowsky, who has been described as an "AI doomer," suggested an "indefinite and worldwide" ban. The letter, signed by 1,125 people including Elon Musk and Apple's co-founder Steve Wozniak, requested a pause on training AI tech more powerful than OpenAI's recently launched GPT-4. Yudkowsky instead suggested a ban that is "indefinite and worldwide" with no exceptions for governments or militaries.

☆ A viral image of Pope Francis dressed in a stylish white puffer coat that fooled social media users was actually generated by AI
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

An image of Pope Francis wearing a stylish white puffer jacket was actually generated by AI. The image went viral on social media with many people not recognizing that it was actually fake. It was then circulated on platforms like Twitter with posts receiving hundreds of thousands of likes and many believing it's real, including a number of celebrities and high-profile social media personalities. It has taken social media by storm as users generate fake images of former president Donald Trump, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and President Vladimir Putin. Ajder said he's worked with Partnership in AI — a non-profit organization promoting responsible AI use — to set out guidelines for people using AI tools as well as creators of the tool.

☆ Meta's big job cuts aren't about the tricky economy or rising inflation. They're about Mark Zuckerberg's mistakes.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Asia Martin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

CEO Mark Zuckerberg said it was economic changes that led to over 21,000 in total being laid off. Investors have long said that Zuckerberg's own decisions and mistakes led to this point. Zuckerberg has bet his company's future on the metaverse, including its expensive bets on virtual reality goggles via its Reality Labs unit. Meta's stock has moved up after every layoff announcement, a sign that investors liked the announcements. Investors had a positive response on Wednesday as Meta's stock rose 6% again off the news of more layoffs.

☆ Meta is slashing up to $500 off the price of its VR headsets after 'underwhelming' sales and mixed reviews
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( Stephanie Stacey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Meta is cutting the price of its VR headsets, which are a big part of its metaverse ambitions. The high-end Meta Quest Pro will be reduced from $1,500 to $1,000. The headset has had mixed reviews and suffered "underwhelming sales," The Verge reported. The price of the 256GB Meta Quest 2 will drop from $500 to $430, while the higher-end Meta Quest Pro will get a $500 haircut to $1,000. They've been matched by "underwhelming sales," Alex Heath of The Verge reported in his Command Line newsletter on Friday.

☆ Meta VP tells staff to make the metaverse 'so obviously successful' that his dad stops calling every week to ask about it
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A Meta VP told staff to "buckle down" and "build great products" for the metaverse, per The Verge. Only one in 10 users reportedly come back to its Horizon metaverse platform after a month. The VP reportedly said he wants the metaverse and VR to be "so obviously successful that my dad stops calling me every week to ask" about it. "And please, let's make the metaverse and VR so obviously successful that my dad stops calling me every week to ask me about it," he reportedly added. But only time will tell if Meta's products will keep users active in the metaverse.

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