Meta Platforms, Inc., Facebook’s parent company, will devote approximately 20 percent of its overall expenses and costs to Reality Labs in the upcoming New Year, despite questions about the business division focused on virtual and augmented reality, and the so-called metaverse, Bloomberg reported.
The project, given by Facebook chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth in Monday’s blog post, is little changed from the 18 percent of spending Meta Platforms devoted to Reality Labs during 2022’s third quarter. That means most of the company’s investments will continue to go toward what Meta distinguishes as its “family of apps,” which comprises Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger.
“We continue to direct the majority of our investments toward our family of apps as we believe strength in the core can support an ambitious agenda for the future. As also reflected in our Q3 results, about 80 percent of Meta’s overall investments support the core business, with the other 20 percent going toward Reality Labs,” Bosworth’s blog said. “It’s a level of investment we believe makes sense for a company committed to staying at the leading edge of one of the most competitive and innovative industries on earth.”
Doubts
In 2022, Meta stock is down almost 65 percent, and some have questioned Meta chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg’s pricey bet on the metaverse, which comes as the company has cut other costs, not to mention widespread layoffs.
Reality Labs reported a loss of $9.4 billion from operations through the first nine months of this year. By comparison, Meta’s family of apps brought in roughly $32 billion in profit during that same period.
Bosworth said 2022 had been more difficult than expected.
He said, “Economic challenges across the world, combined with pressures on Meta’s core business, created a perfect storm of skepticism about the investments we’re making.”
Still, the chief technology offer added, pulling back on future bets to focus on short-term goals alone can bring “disastrous consequences.”
In other Facebook news: Google Pixel Tablet leaks on Facebook Marketplace
In other words, the Google Pixel Tablet could finally be coming to buyers, or at least one of them, as it recently leaked on Facebook Marketplace in the United States, together with the speaker docking station. The two’s price is $400, but nothing is official as of the moment.
Last May, Google teased the Pixel Tablet and later gave people more information during the Pixel 7 event. The company released more details in October, but nothing has been official since then.
The photos from the Facebook Marketplace listing show off the tablet, including the Pixel Launcher in tablet form. It looks like a real deal as the wallpaper is aking to the Feathers collection of the Pixel 7 series.
Talking about specs, the tablet has 256GB of storage, likely with 6GB or 8GB of RAM, and a Tensor chip, first- or second-gen.
