Meta is considering making cuts to a division in its Reality Labs unit that works on the so-called metaverse, said three employees with knowledge of the matter.
The cuts could come as soon as next month and amount to 10 to 30 percent of employees in the Metaverse unit, which works on virtual-reality headsets and a V.R.-based social network, the people said. The numbers of potential layoffs are still in flux, they said. Other parts of the Reality Labs division develop smart glasses, wristbands and other wearable devices. The total number of employees in Reality Labs could not be learned.
Meta does not plan to abandon building the metaverse, the people said. Instead, executives expect to shift the savings from the cuts into investments in its augmented reality glasses, the people said.
Meta introduced the glasses — which have built-in cameras and microphones that allow users to take phone calls and listen to music — with Ray-Ban in 2021. More recently, Meta incorporated an artificially intelligent assistant into the glasses that users can interact with through their voices. The glasses have been a surprise hit, with sales surpassing internal targets in recent years, the people said.
A Meta spokesman declined to comment. The potential cuts were earlier reported by Bloomberg.
Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s chief executive and founder, rebranded his company Meta from Facebook in 2021 as he pursued a far-flung vision of what social networking could look like in a virtualreality-based version of the internet. He has chased that vision since 2014, when he purchased Oculus, a virtual reality start-up that became the foundation for Meta’s hardware division.
But paving the road to that future has been difficult. Though Meta made significant technical advances in virtual reality devices, consumers have not widely embraced the technology. Reality Labs, which builds the hardware and software for Mr. Zuckerberg’s metaverse vision, has posted more than $70 billion in losses over the past four years.
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Meta is considering making cuts to a division in its Reality Labs unit that works on the so-called metaverse, said three employees with knowledge of the matter.
The cuts could come as soon as next month and amount to 10 to 30 percent of employees in the Metaverse unit, which works on virtual-reality headsets and a V.R.-based social network, the people said. The numbers of potential layoffs are still in flux, they said. Other parts of the Reality Labs division develop smart glasses, wristbands and other wearable devices. The total number of employees in Reality Labs could not be learned.
Meta does not plan to abandon building the metaverse, the people said. Instead, executives expect to shift the savings from the cuts into investments in its augmented reality glasses, the people said.
Meta introduced the glasses — which have built-in cameras and microphones that allow users to take phone calls and listen to music — with [Ray-Ban in 2021](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/09/technology/facebook-wayfarer-stories-smart-glasses.html). More recently, Meta incorporated an artificially intelligent assistant into the glasses that users can interact with through their voices. The glasses have been a surprise hit, with sales surpassing internal targets in recent years, the people said.
A Meta spokesman declined to comment. The potential cuts were earlier reported by [Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-04/meta-s-zuckerberg-plans-deep-cuts-for-metaverse-efforts?embedded-checkout=true).
Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s chief executive and founder, rebranded his company [Meta from Facebook in 2021](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/28/technology/facebook-meta-name-change.html) as he pursued a far-flung vision of what social networking could look like in a virtualreality-based version of the internet. He has chased that vision since 2014, when he purchased Oculus, a virtual reality start-up that became the foundation for Meta’s hardware division.
But paving the road to that future has been difficult. Though Meta made significant technical advances in virtual reality devices, consumers have not widely embraced the technology. Reality Labs, which builds the hardware and software for Mr. Zuckerberg’s metaverse vision, has posted more than $70 billion in losses over the past four years.
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