'Difficult decisions had to be taken since the company had to survive.'
Meta Platform Inc's WhatsApp and Messenger messaging apps are now the main driver of the company's sales growth, replacing the previously proposed core metaverse business.
The basis was laid out by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mark Zuckerberg himself in the company's first open meeting after making the decision to lay off Meta's massive workforce a few weeks ago.
In his statement, Zuckerberg said the company is focusing on monetizing WhatsApp and Messenger for the next few years while metaverse is a long-term investment.
The decision had to be taken by the company after laying off 11,000 employees for the first time since its establishment, in addition to saying that the monetise opportunity on the messaging application is greater than advertising on Facebook or Instagram.
In the meantime, Zuckerberg's comments seem to be a pattern of shifting the company's business focus from the metaverse core which has not brought profit since the restructuring to Meta Platform Inc.
Investors previously often voiced concerns about Meta's long-term investment plan, causing the company's stock to drop by half.
At the meeting Zuckerberg was also seen touching on Reality Labs, the unit responsible for the company's metaverse investments.
He commented that the company has invested 20% of the budget to the Reality Labs unit in leading the augmented reality (AR) infrastructure with the production of smart glasses but it is 'far ahead of time'.
as of this writing Meta shares are trading up 0.54% at $112.05.
