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☆ Meta shares surge nearly 20% as Zuckerberg pledges to make 2023 a ‘year of efficiency’
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —For years, Facebook and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg invested heavily in growth, including in areas like virtual reality with unproven potential. All of that helped send shares of Meta up nearly 20% in after hours trading Wednesday. Meta reported nearly $32.2 billion in revenue for the quarter, down 4% from the year prior but ahead of the $31.5 billion analysts had projected. The guidance is somewhat better than Snapchat-parent Snap’s from earlier in the week, which said it expects first quarter revenue to fall between 2% and 10% compared to the previous year. The company also lost a total of more than $13.7 billion in its “Reality Labs” unit which houses its metaverse efforts.

☆ Meta set to report fourth-quarter earnings after the bell
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms Inc., left, arrives at federal court in San Jose, California, US, on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022. Meta reports fourth-quarter earnings on Wednesday as the company tries to reverse a slide that pushed the stock down by 64% last year. The company also said its "internal forecast" assumes a revenue drop in the first quarter of between 2% and 10%. Alphabet and Amazon will wrap up earnings reports from the major online ad platforms on Thursday, followed by Pinterest next week. Meta said last quarter that "Reality Labs operating losses in 2023 will grow significantly year-over-year."

☆ Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse just keeps losing money, as Meta's Reality Labs division posts a loss of $13.7 billion for the year
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Reality Labs is the business and research unit of Meta that focuses on the metaverse. It reported a loss of $4.28 billion for the fourth quarter, wider than $3.3 billion in the quarter prior. The company posted its fourth-quarter earnings report on Wednesday, with Reality Labs showing an operating loss of $4.28 billion for the fourth quarter, wider than $3.3 billion in the previous quarter. In the past 12 months, Reality Labs has sucked up more than $13.7 billion. However, in an internal email sent in late December, Bosworth reportedly told the 18,000 members of Reality Labs that the company has solved too many problems simply "by adding headcount."

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms Inc., demonstrates the Meta Quest Pro during the virtual Meta Connect event in New York, US, on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022. Analysts were expecting Reality Labs to record an quarterly operating loss of $4.36 billion on revenue of $715.1 million, according to StreetAccount. In July, Meta announced it was raising the price of its Quest 2 VR headset by $100. Meta then debuted its more expensive Quest Pro VR headset in October, pitching it to companies as an enterprise-workplace device for $1,500. This week, Meta is running a sale on its high-end VR headset, shaving off $400 for a limited time.

☆ Layoffs are a nail in the coffin for whatever the metaverse is
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Last week saw both Apple and Microsoft pause on speculative projects involving augmented reality and virtual reality, per reports. Apple has postponed its much-rumored augmented reality glasses because of technical challenges, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported. The metaverse was already a loose concept, a catch-all term for a vague theory that augmented reality and virtual reality is the future of computing, despite little evidence to back this up. Microsoft, reasonably early to the market with its HoloLens headset, has run into issues with one of its biggest customers: the US military. It's possible augmented reality and virtual reality devices do become popular among certain types of consumer, such as enthusiasts or gamers.

☆ Meta's chief product officer says the metaverse will one day be as 'important as the smartphone'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Meta's chief product officer said the metaverse will one day become as important as the smartphone. Speaking at a Davos panel on Wednesday, Chris Cox discussed Meta's vision for the metaverse. Cox said Meta believes that "one day that computing platform will be as important as the smartphone has become in our lifetimes." It is the "only thing Mark wants to talk about," one director level employee told Insider in April. "It's basically fomenting disorganization and anxiety," an employee told Insider at the time.

☆ 4 women execs at Meta, Pinterest, Hyundai and Heineken share the early morning routines that helped them climb the corporate ladder.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Lola Christina Alao | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Insider talked to four female senior executives about their morning work routines. They all start work no later than 7:30 a.m.Two of the execs — Christine Trodella and Olabisi Boyle — prefer to take walking meetings. Insider spoke with four women who've climbed to the corporate ladder — up to senior executive roles at companies including Hyundai and Pinterest — about theirs. Christine TrodellaChristine Trodella, the director of B2B-commercial sales for Reality Labs at Meta, typically starts work between 6 and 7 a.m. "I start work between 7:15 and 7:30 a.m. but wake up at 5 a.m. to give myself time to breathe," she said.

☆ Davos 2023: Thirty years on, author Neal Stephenson discusses his metaverse vision with Meta
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] A 3D printed Facebook's new rebrand logo Meta is seen in this illustration taken on November 2, 2021. A DECADE TO PAY OFFMeta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has said he expected his metaverse investments to take around a decade to pay off. By that time, Cox says people will be able to take a walk with friends and family in virtual worlds as readily as they now make video or voice calls. "A more open metaverse is better," HP Chief Executive Enrique Lores said on the panel. "If someone controls the full metaverse the ability for others to add value is much smaller."

☆ An average 1,600 tech workers have been laid off every day of 2023 so far
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

On an average, at least 1,600 tech sector workers have been laid off every day of 2023 so far, per Layoffs.fyi. That's as 91 tech companies globally have axed 24,151 jobs, just 15 days into 2023. 1,023 tech companies laid off 154,256 workers in 2022, per data aggregated by Layoffs.fyi. That's as 91 tech companies globally have already laid off 24,151 workers just 15 days into 2023, according to data aggregated by Layoffs.ai. This is already about 15% of the 154,256 workers who were laid off by over a thousand tech companies in 2022.

☆ Meta and Apple are no longer among the best places to work, according to a new Glassdoor ranking
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Grace Kay | Madison Hoff | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Meta and Apple fell off Glassdoor's list of best places to work for the first time in over a decade. Other tech companies like Google, LinkedIn, and Microsoft made the top 20 of this year's list. While Meta and Apple fell off the list, tech companies still dominated the US rankings, accounting for 40% of the organizations on the list. Top tech companies like Microsoft, LinkedIn, and Google made the top 20. There are some tech companies that entered the list," Zhao said.

☆ Meta's technology chief reportedly told employees that higher headcount has led to 'untenable' slow movement, including meetings that take a month to schedule
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth told employees in an email that "that adding headcount "makes everything slower," according to The Verge. Reality Labs is the division of Meta that contains its metaverse and virtual reality units. According to Command Line, Bosworth believes Meta's inflated ranks have led to scheduling delays, too. The company also said it expected losses from Reality Labs to grow in 2023, after reporting its financial results for the third quarter of 2022. Read the entire Command Line newsletter here.

☆ The 10 biggest losers in the S&P 500 this year have erased $1.6 trillion in market value
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Carla Mozée | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

In a losing year for US stocks, here are the 10 biggest percentage decliners on the S&P 500. The 10 largest S&P 500 stock losers wiped out $1.6 trillion in market value. The 10 S&P 500 companies that have experienced the largest stock-price declines heading into the end of 2022 have wiped out a combined market value of more than $1.6 trillion. PayPalTicker: PYPLYTD Performance: -63.4%Market Value Decline: $142.49 billionLike many tech companies, the digital payments processor is seeing a slowdown after a pandemic boom. Photo by George Frey/Getty ImagesTicker: GNRCYTD Performance: -73.8%Market Value Decline: $16.6 billionMass COVID lockdowns helped sparked big demand for backup generators as people worked and studied at home.

☆ How Netflix has changed the global entertainment industry
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Ashley Rodriguez | Elaine Low | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Since Netflix began its worldwide expansion in 2016, the streaming service has rewritten the playbook for global entertainment — from TV to film, and, more recently, video games. Still, Netflix's impact on the global TV industry is undeniable. More on Netflix's effect on global TV:The streamer's executive team was rebuilt with a global focusIn recent years, Netflix reoriented its leadership around its new global model. Peters also hired a new talent chief with international experience, former PepsiCo executive Sergio Ezama, to lead Netflix's global workforce. More on Netflix's corporate structure:Netflix has seen its first wide layoffs, though it continues to growThe corporate restructuring hasn't been without obstacles.

☆ A Meta employee paid $300,000 for a cruise ship condo so he can work from home while traveling, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( Ryan Hogg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A Meta employee spent $300,000 on a condo on a cruise ship that will sail the globe. Austin Wells told CNBC he wanted to travel the world, as well as keep working from home. The cruise ship promises to let guests live permanently at sea – at a price. "The thing that most excites me is I don't have to upend my daily routine, in order to go see the world," Wells told CNBC. Wells told the outlet he plans to continue to work West Coast hours when the ship sets sail in Europe in 2025.

☆ Meta is building virtual world open to app makers, CEO tells antitrust court
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Katie Paul | Industry Insight | Saw Law Firms Move Past The Pandemic Into A More Client-Focused Service Environment | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/5] Meta Platforms Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg leaves federal court after attending the Facebook parent company's defense of its acquisition of virtual reality app developer Within Inc., in San Jose, California, U.S. December 20, 2022. REUTERS/Laure AndrillonSAN JOSE, Calif., Dec 20 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) boss Mark Zuckerberg defended his acquisition of a virtual reality fitness app to an antitrust judge on Tuesday, arguing that his company was helping to build a nascent virtual reality industry, not dominate it. On fitness apps, he said, "it's less important that we own the experiences than that they exist." Platform companies have built "the key apps, what they call the killer apps," Zuckerberg said, "but they're not the only apps available." Within developed Supernatural, a VR app it advertises as a "complete fitness service" with choreographed workouts.

☆ Meta says it's committed to the metaverse and will continue to invest 20% of its spending in it
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Travis Clark | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Meta's chief tech officer wrote in a blog post on Monday that the company is committed to the metaverse. Meta will continue to invest 20% of its spending on the efforts. Bosworth addressed criticism that the company was diverting attention away from its core platforms like Instagram to focus on the metaverse. The post comes after John Carmack, who was the consulting CTO of Meta's virtual-reality initiative, including its Meta Quest headset, left the company last week. "During boom times, it's easy to make big, ambitious investments in what's coming next," Bosworth wrote in his Monday post.

☆ JPMorgan upgrades Meta to buy, saying top and bottom-line pressures will ease in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Carmen Reinicke | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

"Heading into 2023, Meta should be comping peak TikTok impact early in the year, and we believe overall Meta engagement remains solid, with time spent per user stabilizing," said Anmuth. Reels, Meta's TikTok competitor, should be revenue neutral next year, according to JPMorgan. Of course, JPMorgan still sees major losses ahead for Meta's reality labs division. "Reality Labs losses increasingly weigh on Meta's GAAP earnings & we project RL losses doubling from $6.6B in 2020 to $13.7B in 2022," Anmuth wrote. JPMorgan projects reality labs losses reaching $17 billion in 2023 and $19 billion in 2024.

WASHINGTON/SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec 8 (Reuters) - The Federal Trade Commission, which enforces antitrust law, is about to engage in a real-life courtroom fight over virtual reality. On Thursday, a high-profile trial kicks off in which the FTC will try to prevent Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) from buying virtual reality app developer Within Inc. The FTC sued in July to stop the deal, saying Meta's acquisition of Within would "tend to create a monopoly" in the market for virtual reality (VR) fitness apps. The majority of the more than 400 apps available in the Quest app store are produced by external developers. Meta owns the most popular virtual reality app in the Quest app store, Beat Saber, which it acquired in 2019.

☆ The easiest way to travel full time? See what a 28-year-old paid for an apartment on a cruise ship
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Lucy Handley | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

The MV Narrative is now under construction in Split, Croatia, from where it will set sail in 2025. The MV Narrative, the first cruise ship from operator Storylines, is scheduled to set sail from Croatia in 2025. A computer-generated image of the bathroom in a "Global" penthouse residence on board the MV Narrative cruise ship. A rendering of a residents' lounge on board the MV Narrative cruise ship, which is expected to carry around 1,000 passengers. A computer rendering of the living quarters of an "Envision" residence on board the MV Narrative cruise ship.

☆ Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the metaverse is 'not the majority of what we're doing'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Samantha Delouya | Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Amid backlash to his metaverse pivot, Mark Zuckerberg clarified that it's "not the majority of what we're doing." Zuckerberg said 80% of investments still go toward Meta's core social media business. Then a little less than 20% of our investment goes towards Reality Labs," Zuckerberg said Wednesday at the New York Times Dealbook conference. "You can debate whether 20% is too much for this bet, but it's not the majority of what we're doing," Zuckerberg said. Despite the resistance to his company's pivot, Zuckerberg sounded upbeat about his company's multi-billion-dollar investment in the metaverse.

☆ Meta is promoting its VR headset with a 3D spaceman bursting out of London's most famous advertising billboard
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Meta unveiled a new 3D ad for its Meta Quest 2 VR headset on London's Piccadilly Circus. Meta's Reality Labs took over the Piccadilly Lights in the heart of London's West End to promote its Meta Quest 2 virtual reality headset. Since 2019, the Facebook owner has pumped $36 billion into Reality Labs, according to an Insider analysis of Meta's financial filings. Reality Labs posted an operating loss of $9.4 billion in the first nine months of this year alone. The Meta Quest 2 ad will run until the end of the year and it will be rolled out across the US as well.

☆ Testing Meta’s Quest Pro VR headset with CNBC Technology Executive Council members
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Susan Caminiti | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Much of this vision hinges on Meta's $1,500 Quest Pro headset, which went on sale last month. The new virtual reality headset has some noted improvements over the mass consumer $400 Quest 2 headset model (which will remain on sale, though a Quest 3 is expected next year) — notably better sound and sensors. The Quest Pro can track your eyes and face, so your avatar can make the same faces that you do. Meta is betting that businesses, not consumers, are going to be the first big market for the Pro headset. Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms Inc., demonstrates the Meta Quest Pro during the virtual Meta Connect event in New York, US, on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022.

Investors have questioned the wisdom of that decision as Meta's core advertising business has struggled this year, more than halving its stock price. In his remarks to employees, Zuckerberg played down how much the company was spending in Reality Labs, the unit responsible for its metaverse investments. About 20% of Meta's budget was going to Reality Labs. About 40% of Reality Labs' budget went toward virtual reality, while about 10% was spent on futuristic social platforms such as the virtual world it calls Horizon. Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth, who runs Reality Labs, said AR glasses need to be more useful than mobile phones to appeal to potential customers and meet a higher bar for attractiveness.

☆ Why Reality Labs will keep spending billions even as Meta makes the biggest cuts in its history
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Eric Rosenbaum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

For tech investors hoping Meta Platforms finds religion on cost cuts as they relate to heavy spending on virtual reality, now is not the time to bet on it. Right now, that means more than $10 billion a year in losses from Reality Labs, but a top Meta VR executive told CNBC this week that the spending will continue. Investors want to see Big Tech rein in spending in what's been a tough stock market and a slowing economy. "But the investments we are making in the core business, and the future business, are the right ones," he said. He stressed that the spending level is a direct byproduct of the level of change the company is chasing.

☆ How the metaverse will redefine 'presence': Meta Reality Labs VR leader
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailHow the metaverse will redefine 'presence': Meta Reality Labs VR leaderAsh Jhaveri, v.p. of Reality Labs partnerships, talks with CNBC tech correspondent Steve Kovach about how the concept of "presence" is being redefined by VR technology like Meta's Quest headset, and big implications for the workplace and enterprise.

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