You may have started hearing more about Meta in the news for quite some time. There are multiple reasons why Meta has been in the news, including Meta employees hijacking user accounts and allegedly taking bribes. The Meta Stock price is dropping, and the company has recently announced layoffs, ineffective business models, and massive investment in metaverse projects. Meta’s financial quarter net profit drop is -52%, and combining all these things shows Meta is a potential threat.
Meta dropped out as a member of the Trillion Dollar Club.
Meta drops from the Top 20 Most Valuable U.S. Companies, and its stock price is so low that it matches its January 2016 stock price. This year, Meta has lost 70 percent, making it the worst-performing stock.
People who invest in a company don’t look happy since Meta is showing flat growth and can’t make a profit. Because of the decrease in revenue and profit. Last year, Meta used to be valued at around 1 trillion dollars, but today it is valued at $297 billion, which is less than a third.
How does Meta make money?
Facebook hired Google Ad Executive Sheryl Sandberg as Chief Operating Officer in 2008. She helps build extremely effective advertising based on the personal data of users, which instantly boosts the company’s sales.
This helps the company and its early employees become rich, but there is a problem. It’s profitable for the company but terrible for consumers. Meta didn’t care since it was making money, even though users hated it because their data was being exploited.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Drew Angerer/Getty Images
In 2008, the company opted to rely on the Ads operation instead of preparing an alternative method to group its users like Google. Meta became vulnerable to an outside entity that choked off its data collection, and in 2021, Apple announced iPhone users could switch off their ad targeting.
Apple users have more purchasing power compared to Android users, and this hurts Apple a lot and causes the loss of billions. Because of this, most advertisers start migrating to other platforms like Google.
Why is Meta at Loss?
Facebook was accessed primarily on the desktop platform until 2010, when users migrated to having access on their mobile devices. Although Facebook adopted the mobile platform, it wants to take full control since its app was built on someone else’s platform.
In 2013, Mark attempted to expand its control by releasing a smartphone but failed. After multiple attempts, Mark Zuckerberg got his hands on Oculus and purchased it for 2 billion dollars. After that, he invested $10 billion in research to develop the platform.
After Apple’s tracking policy changes, we have recently seen Meta hit a major revenue drop. We all know that Meta’s business model runs around ads, and to place ads, they need tracking, which Apple makes difficult for Meta. So, before it’s too late for the company, Mark is working hard to convince everyone and make his vision a reality.
Sean Parker used to help Mark Zuckerberg until Mark Zuckerberg took over Facebook’s operations in 2005. He used to override everyone, even the Board of Directors. Fast-forward to today, and no one would try to stop Mark, even if it was a questionable idea.
Meta-Hero products improve slowly.
Like Facebook, the platform’s meta-core product didn’t improve, and its interface and user experience always felt and worked the same. Instead, they copied other platform features like Snapchat stories and acquired others like Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus. It looks like they didn’t want to compete. Instagram lost its core identity, and both platforms, Facebook and Instagram, were filled with ads.
People need more time to be ready for the metaverse.
Meta is on another level; the company has sold more than 10 million headsets with $1.5 billion in revenue in total, but it is still mostly used for playing games, not for productivity. Workspace and things have bugs, and even Meta employees are not using them. It’s not well-developed yet, which is why it won’t be able to replace other connectivity technologies at this moment. A lot of things need to be finished before they can become public.
We don’t know how long it will take to become a reality, and the technology is ready for the masses. The VR space is a workplace where people can work online and live their online lives. No one can predict how much time it will take, and if this process continues for 25 years or longer, major shareholders aren’t inclined to tolerate it.
In the end, VR will be a technology that will help people feel more connected in the future. There are a lot of VR apps and Metaverse technology available, like VR Chat and Roblox. Facebook laid off 13% of their staff, and they are also facing an investigation from the FTC over anti-trust, acquirers, and competition from TikTok, creating difficulties for Meta. Despite its plight, the company still has billions of people and a lot of potential to make a strong comeback.