Mark Zuckerberg’s adversaries and detractors increase daily. The financial community, experts, and investors are notably skeptical of the social network entrepreneur’s empire, Meta Platforms (META).
Since January, Meta shares have plummeted by 62.3%, resulting in an approximate $570 billion reduction in market value. Elon Musk and Mark Cuban, two billionaire contemporaries, mock him. Musk dubbed him “Zuck the Fourteenth,” an apparent reference to Louis XIV, the notoriously vain and extravagant French ruler.
Countless Millions of Dollars in Losses
Zuckerberg’s strategy is what unites all of these critics. The chief executive officer sees the metaverse as the future of his company, which includes Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram. Utilizing modern technology such as augmented reality and virtual reality headsets, the Metaverse is an immersive environment in which we will live a parallel existence via avatars.
To dispel any lingering doubts, Mark Zuckerberg changed his company Facebook to Meta Platforms. He invested billions of dollars in Reality Labs, the division of Meta Platforms responsible for building this metaverse. As of June 30th, nearly $16 billion had been invested in his vision of the future for a disappointing result. Reality Labs’ operating deficit for the second quarter was $2.81 billion. In the first half of 2022, losses amounted to $5.8 billion.
In 2021, Reality Labs sustained a total loss of $10,2 billion. Horizon Worlds’ image quality is indicative of obsolete technology, not the future. Investors become even more impatient. The media coverage has been negative.
Numerous individuals are willing to declare that the Metaverse is Zuckerberg’s biggest mistake. Since January, the billionaire’s personal wealth has plummeted by more than $77.7 billion, but he continues to urge patience. Nevertheless, renowned investor Michael Burry should have no doubts: Meta is rapidly replacing Coke.
Burry is recognized for correctly predicting the 2008 collapse of the subprime mortgage market, which sparked the global financial crisis. Moreover, he is one of the few individuals who precisely predicted the present market crash. “It seems Meta has an issue with New Coke,” Burry tweeted on October 15.
Meta: Is it the New Coke?
The investor, who runs the hedge fund Scion Asset Management, appears to imply that Zuckerberg made a huge mistake by developing Meta. And it is likely that he will do a major U-turn. Essentially, Meta should return to what it does best on Facebook, which is social media.
New Coke was a substantially sweeter version of the world-famous Coca-Cola. This beverage was introduced by Coca-Cola in April 1985, during a cola war with Pepsi. In 1985, Coca-Cola was losing market share to PepsiCo. Blind taste tests indicate that customers prefer the sweeter flavor of rival Pepsi-Cola. The firm, therefore, chose to reformulate its recipe.
New Coke then debuted in April. It put an unpleasant taste in the mouths of Coca-most Cola’s loyal customers. A few weeks after the announcement, the company was receiving 5,000 angry calls per day. In June, daily call volume jumped to 8,000, necessitating the hiring of more telephone operators. Consumers filed a formal complaint against the company in an attempt to compel it to bring back the discontinued beverage.
On July 11, 1985, 79 days after their initial announcement, Coca-Cola held a news conference to apologize and announce the return of the original Coca-Cola classic recipe. Thus yet, Zuckerberg does not appear inclined to abandon the metaverse. In fact, the company has just released a virtual reality headgear for $1,500. On October 25, the Meta Quest Pro headset will be released. In addition, the billionaire promised new headsets at lower prices.