Facebook Parent's Metaverse Division Loses Nearly $3B In Q1, But Mark Zuckerberg Wants To See It Through

Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc FB said in its first-quarter earnings report that its Facebook Reality Labs division incurred a loss of $2.96 billion in the period.

What Happened: Reality Labs, which encompasses Meta’s augmented and virtual reality segments, reported a loss of $1.83 billion in Q1 2021.

Reality Labs generated a revenue of $695 million in its first quarter, according to the earnings report. In the previous quarter, the revenue stood at $877 million.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on the company’s earnings call that investments such as Reality Labs are “going to be important for our success and growth over time, so I continue to believe that we should see them through.”

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Why It Matters: Reality Labs’ first-quarter revenue is significantly smaller than the $27.91 billion Meta generated.

Earnings per share came in at $2.72, beating a consensus of $2.56. Revenue missed the consensus estimate of $28.21 billion. 

Facebook’s daily active users stood at 1.96 billion in Q1, which is a rise of 4% year-over-year.

Price Action: On Wednesday, Meta Platforms’ shares shot up 18.4% to $207.09 in the after-hours session after closing 3.3% lower at $174.95 in the regular session, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

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Photo courtesy: Anthony Quintano on Wikimedia