Meta Investor Wants Metaverse Spending Slashed, Along With Employee Jobs

Altimeter Capital Chair and CEO Brad Gerstner penned an open letter to Meta Platforms Inc META and CEO Mark Zuckerberg that it had excess employees and moved too slowly to retain the confidence of investors.
Gerstner suggested Meta slash headcount expenses by 20% and limit its pricey investments in "metaverse" technology to no more than $5 billion annually.
"Meta needs to re-build confidence with investors, employees, and the tech community in order to attract, inspire, and retain the best people in the world," Gerstner.
Meta stock is down over 61% in 2022 so far.
Also Read: Mark Zuckerberg's Metaverse Strategies Draw Concerns From VR Developers
At the end of the second quarter this year, Altimeter Capital held over 2 million shares of Meta, CNBC reports.
Meta rebranded from Facebook to better focus on its VR hardware and software and spent $10 billion yearly on the technology.
He said that the estimated fortune the company is currently spending to develop VR could take a decade to bear fruit.
"An estimated $100B+ investment in an unknown future is super-sized and terrifying, even by Silicon Valley standards," Gerstner wrote.
The cost control would help Meta double its free cash flow and improve its share price.
Meta's internal documents reflected metaverse's struggle with technology, users, and a lack of clarity nearly a year after its rebranding.
Meta initially set a goal of reaching 500,000 monthly active users for Horizon Worlds by the end of this year, but in recent weeks revised that figure to 280,000. The current tally is less than 200,000.
Meta's metaverse lacked money-making avenues for its creators, unlike TikTok and Meta's Instagram.
Price Action: META shares traded higher by 0.62% at $130.81 on the last check Monday.

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