Meta Platforms Inc., the former Facebook, said losses at its Reality Labs division developing virtual reality technologies widened last year, but it will continue to invest in the sector. The company’s total Q4 earnings beat expectations and it projected overall stronger growth into 2023, according to its earnings report released Wednesday.
See related article: Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg is still optimistic about the metaverse
Fast facts
Reality Labs reported a loss of US$13.7 billion in 2022, compared to a loss of US$10.2 billion in 2021, the report showed.“On Reality Labs, we still expect our full year Reality Labs losses to increase in 2023, and we are going to continue to invest meaningfully in this area given the significant long-term opportunities that we see,” Susan Li, chief financial officer of Meta, said in an earnings call on Wednesday.Meta chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg also said on the call that the company will launch its next-generation consumer virtual reality headset, which will feature Meta Reality. “I expect that this is going to establish this technology as the baseline for all headsets going forward and eventually, of course, for AR [augmented reality] glasses as well.”The company’s total net income for the full year through Dec. 31 shrank by 41% to US$23.2 billion.Meta reached 2 billion daily active users for the first time in December, the company said.Meta’s share price jumped more than 20% in after-hours trading on Wednesday on the better-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue, which came in at US$32.17 billion.
See related article: Meta’s one-year anniversary: Virtual reality meets tough reality
