Despite a volatile 2022, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg remains confident in the company’s plans to develop its metaverse and artificial intelligence (AI).
The Meta Founder said he remains “fully committed” to both emerging technologies during this week’s Q2 earnings call despite coming off the back of a year that saw its metaverse division, Reality Labs, lose over $13bn.
He stated: “Our investments in AI continue. We remain fully committed to the metaverse vision as well. We’ve been working on both of these two major priorities for many years in parallel now, and in many ways the two areas are overlapping and complementary.”
Meta’s revenue for Q2 2023 jumped by 11% year-over-year (YoY) to $32bn as the tech giant experienced a return to form, gaining double-digit growth for the first time since the end of 2021.
Net income also increased to $7.79bn YoY, with operating income representing a 29% growth margin of $9.4bn.
Outlining its total costs and expenses, Meta posted $22.6bn for Q2 2023, an increase of 10% YoY. Zuckerberg, due to the harsh economic climate, has been forced to make significant layoffs of 21,000 jobs to keep the company cost-effective earlier this year.
The tech firm commented on its cost saving plans, stating: “The reduced forecast is due to both cost savings, particularly on non-AI servers, as well as shifts in capital expenditures into 2024 from delays in projects and equipment deliveries rather than a reduction in overall investment plans.”
Due to posting a positive quarter, Meta is forecasting a Q3 revenue of $32bn – $34.5bn which would indicate a 15% growth from the same period last year.
The Meta CEO commented on Q2 results: “We had a good quarter. We continue to see strong engagement across our apps and we have the most exciting roadmap I’ve seen in a while with Llama 2, Threads, Reels, new AI products in the pipeline, and the launch of Quest 3 this fall.”
Whilst posting positive overall revenue numbers, Reality Labs continues to lose money. The metaverse division posted a loss of $3.7bn for Q2 2023 and brought in $276m in sales.
However, Reality Labs losses were substantially lower than that of Q1 2023, a near 73% decrease as its metaverse is still in its infancy of development and adoption.
