In an unexpected turn of events, the social-media behemoth Meta released its fiscal year 2021 Q4 numbers on Wednesday, following which the company’s stock plummeted more than 20% in after-hours trade. The stock price dip indicates that investors are skeptical of Facebook’s aspirations to enter the metaverse.
Following Netflix’s poor results, Meta’s $10.3 billion quarterly earnings and daily user growth fell short of expectations, with 1.93 billion daily active users versus 1.95 billion predicted (according to Street Account via CNBC) and 2.91 billion monthly active users versus 2.95 billion.
The company’s quarterly revenue increased to $33.7 billion from $28.1 billion, with advertising revenue up to $32.6 billion from $27.2 billion year over year, while net income decreased to $10.3 billion from $11.2 billion the prior year.
The corporation earned $39.4 billion in net income for the entire year, up 35 percent from $29.1 billion in 2020.
The revenue of Meta-owned platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger totaled $32.79 billion, with an operating income of $15.89 billion.
Meanwhile, its Reality Labs Division, which includes VR/AR applications, produced $877 million in revenue in the fourth quarter of last year but lost $3.3 billion.
Metaverse Not Looking So Hot
According to the figures, Meta’s Reality Labs subsidiary is actually losing money, and this isn’t the first time it’s happened. Despite more than doubling revenue compared to 2020, Meta, which is betting big on the futuristic “metaverse,” lost $10.6 billion altogether in that sector.
Worse, the division has always operated in the red since it began reporting its sales and losses separately: Reality Labs lost $4.5 billion in 2019, $6.6 billion in 2020, and now $10.6 billion in 2021, which is the largest loss to date.
However, the corporation appears to be quite ambitious for the current fiscal year. Total revenue for the first quarter of 2022 is expected to range between $27 billion and $29 billion, with a 3 percent to 11% year-over-year increase.
To read our blog on “Meta to launch one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers to process its data,” click here.
