Meta Platforms Inc. shares climbed after reports that the company is weighing deep reductions to the budget behind its metaverse projects. Investors pushed the stock higher as traders reacted to the possibility that one of the companyβs most costly bets could be scaled back.
Based on reports from Bloomberg and Reuters, Meta is considering cuts of up to 30% to the unit that builds its virtual reality and metaverse products, a move tied to planning for the companyβs 2026 budget. The change would mainly affect Reality Labs, the division that makes Quest headsets and Horizon virtual spaces.
Reality Labs has posted heavy losses since 2020. Reports put the total at more than $60 billion and, by some counts, closer to $70 billion in cumulative losses over recent years. Those sums have kept pressure on management to rethink where the company puts its money.
Investors Reward A Smaller BetThe market response was swift. Metaβs share price jumped roughly 4%, and some outlets calculated that the move added about $69 billion to the companyβs market value as traders reacted positively to a pullback from costly metaverse spending. That reaction signals investors prefer money steered toward projects with clearer near-term returns.
Layoffs Could Follow Early Next Year
Reports have warned that the cuts could bring staff reductions inside Reality Labs, with layoffs possibly starting as early as January 2026. Company leaders reportedly discussed budget scenarios during recent planning meetings. Any job cuts would mark a sharp change after years of heavy investment in virtual reality and related software.
A Bigger Push Toward AI And WearablesAt the same time, Meta has been moving money into artificial intelligence and related hardware. The company finalized a multibillion-dollar deal this year to take a large stake in Scale AI β a pact reported at roughly $14 billion for a near-half ownership β and then hired talent from that startup to help run a new AI effort. That tradeoff shows where Metaβs priorities now lie.
What This Means For Users And CompetitorsFor people who own or use Metaβs VR gear, this does not mean every project will end. But several initiatives could see slower progress and smaller teams. For rivals and suppliers in the AR/VR space, the cut may reshape who wins short-term device and platform business.
Analysts say the move narrows one major uncertainty for Meta while opening another: how well the company can compete in AI after so many dollars flowed into virtual worlds.
Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView
Dec. 1β5 recap: This week showed the global scramble to outβbuild, outβtrain, and outβship AI, from datacenter deals to AI-powered smart glasses.
The post Daily Tech Insider Highlights the Escalating AI Arms Race Across Cloud, Code, and Consumer Tech appeared first on TechRepublic.
Dec. 1β5 recap: This week showed the global scramble to outβbuild, outβtrain, and outβship AI, from datacenter deals to AI-powered smart glasses.
The post Daily Tech Insider Highlights the Escalating AI Arms Race Across Cloud, Code, and Consumer Tech appeared first on TechRepublic.
Meta is launching a new unified support hub across Facebook and Instagram designed to make account recovery far less painful.
The post Meta promises itβll soon be easier to recover your hacked Instagram account appeared first on Digital Trends.
Alan Dye, the mastermind behind Apple's user interface evolution, officially joined Meta to spearhead a new creative studio within Reality Labs.
The post Meta Poaches Apple Design Legend for AI Future appeared first on TechRepublic.
Alan Dye, the mastermind behind Apple's user interface evolution, officially joined Meta to spearhead a new creative studio within Reality Labs.
The post Meta Poaches Apple Design Legend for AI Future appeared first on TechRepublic.
Meta is scaling back its metaverse spending and redirecting resources toward AI-powered glasses and wearable devices, marking one of the companyβs most significant strategic pivots in years.
Key Takeaways:
The shift comes as investor skepticism grows over the long-term commercial viability of virtual worlds and VR headsets, the BBC reported on Friday, citing a company spokesperson.
The company has spent more than a decade pouring billions into the metaverse, an initiative that was central to CEO Mark Zuckerbergβs vision for the future of computing.
That ambition also led Facebook to rebrand as Meta in 2021, signaling a company-wide commitment to building immersive digital spaces.
However, momentum has stalled. Metaβs flagship VR platform, Horizon Worlds, has struggled to retain users, while sales of the companyβs headsets have failed to justify the scale of investment.
Bloomberg reported Thursday that Meta plans to cut metaverse spending by up to 30%, sending shares up more than 3% as markets reacted positively to a potential recalibration.
A spokesperson said the company is not planning βbroader changes,β declining to comment on whether the shift could include layoffs across metaverse-focused teams.
Mark Zuckerberg and Meta Platforms $META are reportedly expected to meaningfully cut resources for building the metaverse
β Evan (@StockMKTNewz) December 4, 2025
Executives have reportedly discussed potential budget cuts as high as 30% for the metaverse group next year β Bloomberg pic.twitter.com/PAuEYuMnhN
Instead, Meta sees a faster path forward in wearable AI devices, particularly its new line of smart glasses, launched in September to stronger-than-expected demand.
The latest models feature an on-lens display capable of describing real-world surroundings, identifying objects, and translating text.
Analysts view the glasses as one of the first products to successfully blend AI assistance with hardware in a consumer-friendly form, a direction Meta now hopes to accelerate.
The move reflects wider industry trends. Companies across the US and China are racing to bring AI-enabled glasses and compact wearables to market, betting that users will gravitate toward lightweight, always-on assistance rather than immersive VR environments.
In June, Meta investors overwhelmingly shot down a proposal urging the company to explore adding Bitcoin to its balance sheet, according to a May 28 filing.
The measure received just 3.92 million votes in favor, roughly 0.08% of all shares, while nearly 5 billion voted against it.
With CEO Mark Zuckerberg controlling 61% of voting power, the outcome was effectively predetermined.
The proposal came from Bitcoin advocate Ethan Peck, who argued Meta should allocate part of its $72 billion cash pile into BTC as a hedge against inflation and diminishing real returns on cash and bonds.
Peck cited BlackRockβs guidance supporting a small Bitcoin allocation and submitted the proposal on behalf of his familyβs Meta holdings.
He serves as Bitcoin director at Strive and has pushed similar campaigns at other tech giants.
The post Meta Cuts Metaverse Spend as It Bets on AI Glasses and Wearables appeared first on Cryptonews.
β Jordan Arnold is the new director of the Washington State Broadband Office within the Department of Commerce, effective Jan. 2.
Under the Biden administration, Arnold served as a senior policy advisor on the Infrastructure Implementation Team within the Office of the Chief of Staff. Her work focused on helping lead the $65 billion broadband portfolio, which included implementation of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program and other initiatives.
βJordan has a deep understanding of what it takes to help communities succeed in a digital world,β said Commerce Director Joe Nguyα» n in statement. βHer background working at the highest policy levels in the Biden White House will help power Washington forward in our efforts to connect everyone to the internet.β
β Rebecca Lovell has taken the role of interim president and CEO of Greater Seattle Partners (GSP), a regional public-private economic development organization. She has served as chief operating officer of the group for nearly three years.
Lovellβs past roles include CEO of Denali Founder Consulting, executive director of Madrona Venture Groupβs Create33, and Seattleβs interim director of Economic Development.
βRebecca has been a key leader in our organizationβs success, and we are delighted to see her at the helm of GSP. She energizes the community, the GSP team and our investors,β said Shane Jones, chair of GSPβs board of directors and a senior vice president at Alaska Airlines, in a statement.
Lovell is succeeding Brian Surratt, who took the presidency in 2022 and was recently appointed deputy mayor of the City of Seattle by Mayor-Elect Katie Wilson.
βWe deeply appreciate Brianβs service, commitment and transformational leadership and are excited to see him in this strategic role with the City of Seattle,β Jones said.
Prior to Greater Seattle Partners, Surratt led a community development group, was VP at Alexandria Real Estate and spent 13 years with Seattleβs Economic Development agency, including as director.
β Jason Barnwell, a former Microsoft legal executive, is now chief legal officer for Agiloft, a California company providing software that helps businesses manage their contracts and legal agreements.
βJason knows how to unlock the potential of legal teams, harness AI and data, and make contracting a true driver of business value,β said Agiloft CEO Eric Laughlin in a statement.
Barnwell was with the tech giant for more 15 years in a variety of legal roles. He left the position of general manager and associate general counsel for Monetization and Business Planning. Barnwell will remain in the Seattle area. On LinkedIn, he thanked his Microsoft colleagues for their support and leadership opportunities, noting that he remains βa cheerleader for Microsoft and its people.β
β Elena Winters has joined Brazilβs Elea Data Centers as vice president of international business. Seattle-based Winters was previously at Meta for more than eight years in infrastructure organization roles focused on data center and site selection. She will remain in Washington, leading Eleaβs U.S. and international expansion strategy.
βNow, Iβm stepping into a new challenge β gaining experience on the other side of the business, partnering closely with hyperscalers (not working for them!) to help accelerate the growth of AI infrastructure in LATAM,β Winters said on LinkedIn.
β Seattle startup Aarden AI named Michael Gleason as its staff data scientist. The company recently came out of stealth and offers an AI platform that helps landowners research and navigate deals with developers eager to build data centers, clean energy installations, housing and other uses. Gleason most recently worked as a geospatial data scientist at a national laboratory.
Editorβs note: Story updated to include interim CEO for Rebecca Lovellβs new title.
Security and developer teams are scrambling to address a highly critical security flaw in frameworks tied to the popular React JavaScript library. Not only is the vulnerability, which also is in the Next.js framework, easy to exploit, but React is widely used, including in 39% of cloud environments.
The post Dangerous RCE Flaw in React, Next.js Threatens Cloud Environments, Apps appeared first on Security Boulevard.
Any time a new generation of tech drops, the real value often shows up one step behind it. Thatβs exactly whatβs happening here. Now that the Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 models are out, the Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 1) Wayfarer smart glasses in Shiny Black with clear lenses have dropped to $224.25, down from $299 β [β¦]
The post Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarer Gen 1 just got way more tempting now that Gen 2 is out appeared first on Digital Trends.
Researchers from MIT, Northeastern University, and Meta recently released a paper suggesting that large language models (LLMs) similar to those that power ChatGPT may sometimes prioritize sentence structure over meaning when answering questions. The findings reveal a weakness in how these models process instructions that may shed light on why some prompt injection or jailbreaking approaches work, though the researchers caution their analysis of some production models remains speculative since training data details of prominent commercial AI models are not publicly available.
The team, led by Chantal Shaib and Vinith M. Suriyakumar, tested this by asking models questions with preserved grammatical patterns but nonsensical words. For example, when prompted with βQuickly sit Paris clouded?β (mimicking the structure of βWhere is Paris located?β), models still answered βFrance.β
This suggests models absorb both meaning and syntactic patterns, but can overrely on structural shortcuts when they strongly correlate with specific domains in training data, which sometimes allows patterns to override semantic understanding in edge cases. The team plans to present these findings at NeurIPS later this month.
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