Meta Platforms announces 30% metaverse budget reduction for 2026 following $60 billion in accumulated losses, triggering immediate investor optimism and stock gains.
Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META) has announced significant cuts in its “metaverse efforts,” according to multiple sources like Bloomberg, Reuters, and The Kobeissi Letter on December 4. This has been a long-awaited decision by META shareholders, with the optimism now reflected in a 5% price surge during the US market opening.
According to the sources, Meta Platforms is expected to cut its metaverse-related budget by 30% in 2026, which could mean layoffs could happen as the new year begins. Overall, the unit has burned over $60 billion in metaverse activities, per Reuters. A recent Coinspeaker report noted that META accumulated $4.5 billion in losses on metaverse business in Q2 2024.
The Kobeissi Letter posted on the price surge, highlighting the 5% gains in the first hours of trading. Yet, the initial pump has already retraced a bit, marking around 3.5% gains since today’s opening and 4.81% in the last five days, based on Google Finance data. META was trading at $666.28 by the time of this writing, closing at $639.60 on Wednesday and reaching up to $676.10 in the day range.
Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META) 5D price chart, as of December 4, 2025 | Source: Google Finance
Is the Metaverse Narrative Dead?
This strategy shift for META is significant and could have some influence on the future of the crypto market and projects still relying on the metaverse narrative.
Facebook changed its name to Meta in late 2021 and directed many efforts and relevant budget to activities related to the digital reality that was called the metaverse. This narrative gained strength in the crypto industry, with multiple projects and cryptocurrencies starting to build solutions for that segment.
However, most of these projects have lost most of their market value in the past three years, and the industry pivoted away from what is now seen as a dead narrative. Meta’s current decision could be the nail in the coffin for the metaverse, considering its importance.
Commentators on X now wonder if the company also has plans for another rebranding, but this question remains unanswered.
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