Meta saw a 16 percent increase in its annual revenue for the year 2023, although its Metaverse unit continues to incur losses.
After rebranding from Facebook in 2021, Meta created Reality Labs with the objective of spearheading research and development related to the metaverse and its applications.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta (formerly Facebook), recently revealed the revenue figures for the company’s most recent quarter. Meta generated $40.1 billion (approximately Rs. 3,34,416 crore) in revenue between September and December. Over the course of 2023, the social media and Web3 giant amassed a total revenue of $134.9 billion (roughly Rs. 11,25,119 crore). This marks a 16 percent increase in revenue compared to the previous year. Interestingly, Meta’s Reality Labs division has been consistently operating at a loss since 2021.
In an earnings report released on March 4, Zuckerberg acknowledged the positive revenue trend. Despite losses in the Reality Labs division, Zuckerberg commended the progress made in driving advancements in emerging technologies.
“We had a strong quarter as our community and business continued to grow. We’ve made significant strides in realizing our vision for advancing AI and the metaverse,” said the 39-year-old billionaire in his statement.
Zuckerberg reaffirmed his commitment to exploring the metaverse by rebranding Facebook to Meta in 2021. Concurrently, a new division called Reality Labs was established within the company. This specialized unit was tasked with spearheading research and development efforts focused on the metaverse and its potential applications.
Over the past three years, Reality Labs has introduced metaverse and augmented reality (AR) hardware products such as the Quest VR headset lineup to drive the adoption of these technologies. As of March 2023, Meta has reportedly sold 20 million Quest headsets.
However, despite these ongoing efforts, Meta’s Reality Labs division has consistently reported losses in terms of revenue. Meta disclosed in February that Reality Labs incurred a loss of $46.5 billion while generating nearly $11 billion (approximately Rs. 91,744 crore) in revenue during the fourth quarter of 2023.
Before that, Reality Labs had incurred a loss of $13.7 billion (approximately Rs. 1,12,200 crore) in 2022.
Despite facing these financial challenges, Zuckerberg remains optimistic about the impending metaverse revolution. In May 2023, Meta initiated a study suggesting that the metaverse could potentially add up to $760 billion (approximately Rs. 62,36,088 crore) or about 2.4 percent to the United States’ annual gross domestic product (GDP) by 2035.
