Mark Zuckerberg’s Metaverse losses pass $40 billion.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Metaverse losses pass $40 billion.

Wall Street is starting to come to terms with the massive amount of money Mark Zuckerberg keeps pouring into the metaverse. With second-quarter results out, collective losses from Reality Labs, the metaverse unit at Meta, has now surpassed $40 billion and more financial pain is on the way. Yet, investors sent Meta’s stock up 7% on Wednesday, after hearing Zuckerberg’s explanation of why he continues to spend so heavily in a still largely unproven area. “This is a very long-term bet,” Zuckerberg said on a call with analysts. “I can’t guarantee you that I’m gonna be right about this bet. I do think that this is the direction that the world is going in.” Zuckerberg went on to explain the various consumer tech trends he’s noticed, leading him to believe that a more immersive version of the internet will become the norm in the years ahead. This time, analysts hassled Zuckerberg much less on metaverse spending than they have in previous quarters. The difference: Last year, Meta reported slowing or negative revenue growth. Now, much of the focus during the call was on Meta’s AI projects and the surprising growth and success of Threads. Revenue increased in the second quarter, and is expected to increase again in the next. Meta has done huge layoffs and cut expenses in other ways.