Zuckerberg Considers Pulling Back on Metaverse Resources

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to eliminate a chunk of resources for its metaverse group. Until recently, he had championed it as a key growth area.

Company executives are mulling a 30% budget cut for the metaverse sector in 2026 across Meta Horizon Worlds and its Quest VR division. Those reductions will most likely include layoffs as early as next month, although a final decision is still pending.

During Meta's annual budget meeting last month, Zuckerberg tasked executives to make 10% reductions across the company, but it was a similar ask from previous budget cycles over the last few years. The company is making deeper cuts to the metaverse sector because Meta has not faced the level of competition it previously expected.

The bulk of the proposed cuts is most likely to take place across its VR group, which accounts for most of the metaverse-related expenditures. Zuckerberg has been a big proponent of creating the metaverse, which is why he changed the company’s name from Facebook to Meta Platforms in 2021.

A representative for Meta said that the company is shifting some of its investment from the metaverse toward AI glasses and wearables, given the momentum there. “We aren’t planning any broader changes than that,” the representative stated.