Reality Labs, the research arm of social media giant Meta Platforms* that is building the metaverse, is going through tough times.
Reality Labs’ operating losses grew 10% to $17,7 billion last year, bringing its total losses since the unit’s launch in 2020 to more than $60 billion. However, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says that will change this year.
“2025 will be a pivotal year for the metaverse. This is the year that a number of long-term investments that we’ve been working on that will make the metaverse more visually appealing and inspiring will really start to pay off,” Zuckerberg promised investors during an online conference call.
He noted that the number of users of augmented reality and metaverse equipment is steadily growing. This was reflected in the financial performance of Reality Labs, whose revenue in 2024 increased by 13% compared to 2023.
Reality Labs’ work is directly tied to Meta’s AI projects, which Zuckerberg plans to spend up to $65 million on. He said the company will build a 2-gigawatt data center «that will be so big it will take up a significant portion of Manhattan.»
Meta’s revenue for the whole of 2024 grew by 22% and amounted to $164,5 billion.
*Meta Platforms Inc. is recognized as an extremist organization, its work is prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation.