Meta Shares Jump as Zuckerberg Prepares Deep Cuts to Metaverse Division

Meta’s market value surged by nearly $100bn on Thursday after reports emerged that Mark Zuckerberg is preparing sweeping budget cuts of up to 30% at the company’s troubled Metaverse division.

According to Bloomberg, senior Meta executives met at Zuckerberg’s Hawaii compound last month to discuss the cost reductions, which are expected to trigger layoffs as early as January. The division, responsible for virtual reality headsets, Horizon Worlds, and other immersive tech, has lost more than $70bn since 2020, including $4.4bn last quarter alone.

Investors responded enthusiastically to the prospect of tighter spending, sending Meta shares up 5.5%, their biggest jump since July.

Zuckerberg rebranded Facebook as Meta in 2021 and embarked on an expensive bet on a 3D «Metaverse» internet. But sluggish adoption of VR headsets, technical limitations and user disinterest have left the project struggling, prompting the CEO to shift his public focus toward artificial intelligence.

Meta is now pouring resources into AI chatbots, video-generation tools and a vast data-centre expansion, with $600bn earmarked for US infrastructure by 2028. The rapid investment has intensified worries of an AI-fuelled market bubble as tech giants race to dominate the sector.