Zuckerberg’s $100B metaverse gamble is ‘super-sized and terrifying,’ shareholder says

A shareholder’s open letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has labeled the tech large’s funding into the Metaverse as “super-sized and terrifying.”

The shareholder has urged the corporate to scale down its funding within the Metaverse and its associated expertise arm amid a big fall in its inventory worth over the past 18 months. 

The open letter was printed on Oct. 24 and was directed at Zuckerberg and the board of administrators. It was authored by Brad Gerstner, CEO and founding father of expertise funding agency Altimeter Capital, which owns roughly a 0.11% share in Meta, according to Hedge Comply with.

Gerstner mentioned that Meta’s foray into the Metaverse, whereas vital, shouldn’t command as a lot funding from the corporate because it presently does.

He mentioned the corporate has introduced investments of $10 billion to $15 billion per 12 months into its Metaverse venture, together with AR/ VR tech and Horizon World, however “might take 10 years to yield outcomes,” explaining: 

“An estimated $100B+ funding in an unknown future is super-sized and terrifying, even by Silicon Valley requirements.”

Quite, he has urged the corporate to focus extra on synthetic intelligence (AI) and fewer on the Metaverse, because it “has the potential to drive extra financial productiveness than the web itself.”

“Whereas most corporations will battle to monetize AI, we imagine Meta is extremely effectively positioned to leverage AI to make all of its present merchandise higher,” he added.

Gestner’s feedback come on the identical day the Financial institution of America downgraded Meta from a “purchase” to “impartial” valuation, partly resulting from its Metaverse investments more likely to stay an “overhang” on the inventory due to the “lack of progress” and “new competitors from Apple.”

Gerstner added that over the past 18 months, Meta’s inventory has fallen 55% in comparison with a median of 19% for its “big-tech friends,” which he suggests “mirrors the misplaced confidence within the firm, not simply the dangerous temper of the market.”

Associated: Facebook is on a quest to destroy the Metaverse and Web3

Gerstner isn’t the one particular person to assume the way forward for the Metaverse is a comparatively “unsure” one both.

On Jul. 30, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin mentioned that whereas “the Metaverse will occur,” corporate attempts such as those by Facebook will “misfire” as a result of “it’s far too early to know what folks really need.”

The share worth for Meta Platforms Inc (META) has plummeted 60.53% over the past 12 months to $129.72 on the time of writing – a far larger fall within the present bear market than the likes of Apple, Amazon and Google.

Meta is about to report its third-quarter 2022 outcomes on Oct. 26.