--- title: "Mark Zuckerberg “Pretty Confident” About Metaverse After Stock Craters" description: "Meta-formerly-Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is steadfast in his belief in the metaverse, despite stock cratering 20 percent." date: "2022-10-27" modified: "2022-10-27" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/mark-zuckerberg-confident-stock-craters" categories: - "Future Society" - "Metaverse" - "Virtual Reality" tags: - "mark zuckerberg" - "Meta" - "the digest" --- # Mark Zuckerberg “Pretty Confident” About Metaverse After Stock Craters ![Meta-formerly-Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is steadfast in his belief in the metaverse, despite stock cratering 20 percent.]() *\Image: Drew Angerer/Getty Images\* ## Meta Hexxed Meta-[formerly-Facebook]() CEO Mark Zuckerberg is steadfast in his belief that we will all soon be socializing and working together inside a corporate metaverse while wearing bulky headsets — and so far, he's willing to overlook the walls coming down around him. The company's stock cratered 20 percent after the company's earnings report for the third quarter disappointed investors, [according to *Insider*](), plunging to its lowest levels since 2016. "We've been through a couple of these cycles before already, and I'm pretty confident this is going in a good direction," Zuckerberg said during a call with analysts, as quoted by *Insider*. "And while we continue to navigate some challenging dynamics — a volatile macroeconomy, increasing competition, ads signal loss, and growing costs from our long-term investments — I have to say that our product trends look better from what I see than some of the commentary I've seen suggests," he added. ## Doubling Down The CEO billionaire was likely alluding to a growing mountain of bad press and criticism, from [embarrassingly terrible VR selfies](), [vacant and deserted virtual spaces](), to a disappointing and [underwhelming $1,500 headset](). All told, it seems pretty clear that Meta is in a bad state right now, and that's in large part due to Zuckerberg's decision to double down on the metaverse, a VR playground that hasn't sparked much interest among the general public. The company's net income has dropped by a startling 52 percent year over year, with the company's efforts in building out Zuckerberg's vision for the metaverse costing the company billions of additional dollars. Despite [$15 billion spent](), Meta has very little to show when it comes to its vision for a virtual future — and investors are [starting to get antsy](). "Look, I get that a lot of people might disagree with this investment, but from what I can tell, I think this is going to be a very important thing," Zuckerberg told investors. "People will look back a decade from now and talk about the importance of the work being done here." But whether that work will have a chance to even materialize within that timeframe remains to be seen. **More on Zuckerberg:** *[Leak: Most Facebook Metaverse Users Have Quit in a Month]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()