Facebook CEO: Metaverse Will Be ‘Holy Grail of Social Experiences’

Facebook will spend more than $10 billion on its metaverse division, called Facebook Reality Labs, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said during the company’s third-quarter earnings call on Monday. The money will go toward augmented and virtual reality products, services and other efforts to “develop the next generation of online social experiences,” he said.

“This is a major area of investment for us and an important part of our strategy going forward,” Zuckerberg told investors. “Our goal is to help the metaverse reach a billion people.”

He added that a Facebook metaverse could enable “hundreds of billions of dollars of digital commerce.”

Long-term investment

However, the social media giant does not expect to see profits from the multi-billion dollar investment anytime soon. Zuckerberg said the investment is “long-term” but will eventually “help bring the metaverse to life.”

“This is not an investment that is going to be profitable for us anytime in the near future,” he said, adding that the company expects to see the investment grow even further in the next several years. “[However, the metaverse will be] the holy grail of social experiences.”

Additionally, Zuckerberg announced that the company will report a separate set of financials for Facebook Reality Labs, which will oversee the company’s virtual and augmented reality efforts moving forward. 

The company’s revenue increased to $29 billion in Q3 from roughly $21.5 billion on year, missing analysts’ expectations of $29.6 billion. Facebook expects a total revenue ranging from $31.5 billion to $34 billion in Q4, according to its financial report.

“We made good progress this quarter and our community continues to grow,” Zuckerberg said. “I’m excited about our roadmap, especially around creators, commerce, and helping to build the metaverse.”

Facebook Inc. (FB) shares are up 1.12% at $332.30 during extended trading hours.