Mark Zuckerberg actively campaigns for the metaverse virtual universe as the future of the internet, even forming a new company Meta as the parent of Facebook. But so far, the results have not been seen and the future is becoming quite worrying.
Meta's stock price plummeted by 70% last year and Zuckerberg's fortune has plummeted. Investors questioned gambling into the Metaverse which devoured huge budgets but to no avail.
According to experts, Facebook itself is under threat as technology and industry changes. "They will be crushed by the new wave of technology," said Steven Levy, editor of technology magazine Wired.
The emergence of mobile and other technologies, indeed, is a tremendous threat to Facebook, says Levy, and that's what fueled Zuckerberg's metaverse strategy. According to him, Zuckerberg is paranoid about the next big technology trend.
"He didn't want to fall victim to the innovator's dilemma... so he was obsessed with virtual reality," said Levy, quoted by us from News9.
The problem, according to David Katz, chairman of Matrix Asset Advisors, is that Zuckerberg has turned a deaf ear to pouring billions and massive resources into the metaverse project. As a result, Meta is the worst performing technology stock. "One of the reasons the market is so frustrated with (Meta) is because companies are letting costs run wild," he said.
But despite all lingering doubts, Levy says Mark Zuckerberg is a genius who should probably be given a chance to win big bets, if he can keep costs down and not lose focus on Facebook, Instagram, Reels and WhatsApp.
"He's a visionary who has run a spectacular business," said Levy.