Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms, told staff on Thursday that WhatsApp and Messenger will fuel the company's next wave of revenue growth, as he moved to alleviate fears about Meta's finances following its first round of layoffs.
According to Reuters, Zuckerberg, responding to sharp questions at a company-wide conference a week after Meta said it will let off 11,000 people, defined the pair of messaging applications as "quite early in monetizing" in comparison to its advertising juggernauts Facebook and Instagram.
"We speak a lot about long-term potential like the metaverse, but the fact is that business messaging will most likely be the next big pillar of our company as we seek to monetize WhatsApp and Messenger more," he added.
Some consumers may communicate and transact with retailers using chat applications, according to a new feature unveiled Thursday in Brazil.
On Thursday's internal forum, the corporation did not immediately react to a request for comment.
After establishing a long-term goal of creating an immersive metaverse last year, Zuckerberg's statements there show a shift in tone and emphasis.
Investors have questioned the prudence of that choice, as Meta's primary advertising business has faltered this year, causing its stock price to more than halve.
In his address to staff, Zuckerberg downplayed the amount of money the business was investing in Reality Labs, the organisation in charge of its metaverse efforts.
According to him, people were Meta's most expensive expense, followed by capital expenditure, the vast majority of which went to infrastructure to support its suite of social media apps. Reality Labs received about 20% of Meta's funding.
Reality Labs was spending more than half of its budget on augmented reality (AR), with smart glasses products expected to emerge "over the next few years" and some "truly great" AR glasses later in the decade, according to Zuckerberg.
"In some respects, this is the most difficult task... but I also believe it is the most useful prospective aspect of the work over time," he added.
Reality Labs spent around 40% of its resources on virtual reality, while the remaining 10% was spent on futuristic social platforms such as Horizon, a virtual environment.
Reality Labs' Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth stated that AR glasses must be more helpful than mobile phones in order to appeal to potential users and achieve a higher standard for attractiveness.
Bosworth stated that he was hesitant to explore "industrial applications" for the devices, seeing them as "niche," and that he preferred to focus on designing for a large audience.
