CNA – Facebook-owner Meta Platforms Inc is preparing cutbacks in its Reality Labs division, a unit at the center of the company’s strategy to refocus on hardware products and the “metaverse”, a spokesperson confirmed to media on Wednesday.
Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth told Reality Labs staffers during a weekly Q&A session on Tuesday to expect the changes to be announced within a week, according to a summary of his comments viewed by media.
The Meta spokesperson confirmed that Bosworth told staffers the division could not afford to do some projects anymore and would have to postpone others, without specifying which projects would be affected.
She said Meta was not planning layoffs as part of the changes.
The world’s biggest social media company last month told investors that it would scale back costs in 2022, following a drop in Facebook users early this year that caused the stock to plunge.
Meta lowered its expected 2022 total expenses to between USD87 billion and USD92 billion, down from its prior outlook of between USD90 billion and USD95 billion.
Last week, it told employees it was reducing hiring for most mid-to-senior-level positions, as initially reported by .
The tech giant has invested heavily in Reality Labs, which grew out of its Oculus virtual reality business and now encompasses work on augmented reality, smart glasses, Portal video-calling devices and enterprise tech solutions.
The unit is also building a mixed reality headset with face and eye tracking called Project Cambria, which Zuckerberg previewed on his Facebook page on Wednesday.
Those investments are aimed at positioning Meta as a gateway to the metaverse, a universe of immersive, shared, interconnected digital worlds which Zuckerberg has said he believes will be the successor to the mobile Internet.
