Meta’s second quarter earnings are in, reporting revenue of $60.80 billion. That’s another record-breaking year-on-year increase of about 28%, though shares are reportedly down by about 10%. Funny, that. Now, time to take a look at how the company’s famous money-hole, its VR and AR division, Reality Labs, is doing while I take a big sip of my coffee…
A $4.6 billion income loss due to Reality Labs alone this quarter? Well, there goes my keyboard. That’s compared to the division bringing in $431 million in revenue. I may have only got a passing grade in Math, but even I can see those numbers don’t add up.
To be fair to this segment of the business, that $431 million represents a 16% year-over-year increase in quarterly revenue. In Meta’s latest earnings call, CFO Susan Li attributed these revenue gains to “strong growth in AI glasses revenue, partially offset by lower Quest headset sales.” Company CEO Mark Zuckerberg was also keen to highlight the success of Meta’s glasses, describing it as “one of the fastest-growing consumer electronics of all time.”
Zuckerberg added that early sales of the frames the company designed in collaboration with Kylie Jenner “have been strong, exceeding our expectations” (As you may expect, the Meta execs had nothing to say about those They Live-inspired guerilla bus stop ads that recently popped up in London).