The founder of Facebook and CEO of Meta has staked the future of his company on a new internet, where smartphones will no longer be. The presentation of its financial results for the first quarter of 2022 suggests that the investments will be substantial, with returns for the next decade.
Meta is testing the patience of its shareholders
For the first time in its history, Meta, formerly Facebook, presents a growth in its turnover of less than 10% to reach only a small 27.9 billion dollars (+7%). If this result could be difficult to assume, the company warns thatthere may be no growth at all in the second quarter of 2022. To further delight its investors, Meta reported earnings down 21%. They were $9.5 billion as of March 31, 2021, they are $7.5 billion for this quarter.
Microsoft has its head in the clouds for its first quarter of 2022
These performances, to which the Stock Exchange is not yet accustomed, closely follow the group’s annual results, which had led to a significant drop in the price. Meta had lost a quarter of its valuation by announcing a loss of users.
While TikTok is exploding as a flagship social network, Mark Zuckerberg’s company is seeing its side apps like Instagram and WhatsApp show less growth. They are sometimes forced to draw inspiration from the competition, even if it means forcing the adoption of practices even on Facebook. Meta is also turning away from its core business to develop state-of-the-art products, which should allow its users to dive into the metaverse.
Reality Labs is working on a haptic glove, which would make it possible to feel manipulated objects in a virtual world. Picture: Reality Labs
However, they require billions of investment in research and development. The Reality Labs division that shapes them is said to have cost the company nearly $3 billion in the past three months, and $10 billion last year. However, the CEO of Meta said to himself ” confident in the long-term opportunities and growth that our product development plan will achieve. To support this project, he opened a point of sale not far from Reality Labs with all of his products.
Beyond the products that allow you to go to the metaverse, there is also the design of this virtual universe, for the moment known as Hoziron Worlds. ” I recognize that it is expensive to build this. This is something that has never been built before,” says Mark Zuckerberg. ” This lays the foundation for what I hope will be a very exciting 2030. But will the shareholders make the same bet as Meta.