Meta’s market value drops by $67 Bn after its Q3 results

Meta Platforms Inc.’s stock plunged 20%, wiping $67 billion off its market value after the company posted its fourth straight decline in quarterly profit.

The company said its overall expenses could rise as much as 16% next year and anticipates that operating losses at Reality Labs that brought metaverse, will grow significantly next year. In the July-September quarter, losses at Reality Labs increased to a whopping $3.67 billion from $2.63 billion a year earlier.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, “It would be a mistake for us to not focus on any of these areas that will be fundamentally important to our future....we’re doing leading work that will become ... eventually mature products at different cadences in different periods of time over the next five to 10 years.”

He spoke about the company’s various efforts, including a recently unveiled virtual and mixed reality headset called Quest Pro that is priced at $1,500 and a social metaverse platform where people can express themselves via avatars. He said Meta is investing in two other areas: augmented reality and neural interfaces.

In an open letter to Zuckerberg, Meta shareholder Altimeter Capital Management called on Meta to streamline by cutting jobs and capital expenditure. The fund suggested Meta cap annual investments in the metaverse to $5 billion instead of the current $10 billion.