The work on building virtual reality continues to be a financial black hole for the technology giant Meta. During its latest financial results report (Q4 2025), the company revealed startling figures: the Reality Labs division recorded an operating loss of $6.02 billion in just three months.
Math of Losses
Although the segment's revenues reached nearly a billion ($955 million), they pale in comparison to expenses. Financial losses exceeded even the pessimistic forecasts of Wall Street analysts. Here's how the balance looks in numbers:
21% increase in losses compared to the same period last year.
$80 billion – the total amount that Meta has “spent“ on the Metaverse since the end of 2020.
13% sales growth – a small light in the tunnel, which barely covers operating costs.
The turn to AI and smart glasses
Mark Zuckerberg seems calm, despite the market talk of an impending “VR winter“. “I expect losses to peak this year, after which we will gradually start to reduce them,“ commented the CEO.
But the strategy is already changing. Instead of pouring money into virtual worlds alone, Meta is shifting resources to:
Artificial Intelligence (AI): The engine of the future that should make the metaverse smarter.
Wearables: The success of the Ray-Ban Meta glasses shows that consumers prefer augmented reality (AR) to complete isolation in a helmet.
Cuttings and closing studios
The path to Zuckerberg's "vision" has been through tough decisions. In early 2026, Meta laid off more than 1,000 employees from Reality Labs and closed several internal VR studios. CTO Andrew Bosworth acknowledged that the market is growing more slowly than expected, but stressed: “Meta is not giving up“.
What does this mean for us?
The battle for Meta is a battle for the next big computing platform. If Zuckerberg succeeds, he will own the “new internet”. If he fails, the $80 billion will go down in history as the most expensive monument to technological pride.