USA Facebook Group continues to lose billions with VR dreams

SDA

29.1.2025 - 23:50

ARCHIVE - The logo of the Facebook group Meta can be seen near the company headquarters. Photo: Andrej Sokolow/dpa
ARCHIVE - The logo of the Facebook group Meta can be seen near the company headquarters. Photo: Andrej Sokolow/dpa
Keystone

Facebook group Meta's advertising business continues to run at full speed - but the business with digital worlds continues to generate billions in losses.

Keystone-SDA

The Reality Labs division, which is primarily known for VR goggles, posted operating losses of almost five billion dollars in the last quarter - on a turnover of 1.08 billion dollars.

However, Meta can still easily afford these expenses. Even after the huge loss at Reality Labs, consolidated profit rose by 49 percent year-on-year to 20.8 billion dollars. Group turnover grew by 21 percent to 48.4 billion dollars.

At least one app from the group, which includes Instagram and WhatsApp in addition to Facebook, was used by 3.35 billion users every day. This exceeded analysts' expectations.

Meta forecast revenue of between 39.5 and 41.8 billion dollars for the current quarter. An average forecast of 41.7 billion dollars had been expected on the market. The share price fluctuated between plus and minus in after-hours trading.

In 2024 as a whole, Reality Labs accumulated red figures of 17.7 billion dollars. In recent months, Meta launched a new VR headset in this division and also invested in a pair of glasses that can superimpose digital content onto the user's real environment.