(Daily Caller) Meta stocks plummeted 22% on Thursday, at time of writing, as the company faced down a variety of challenges this week.
Shares began their most recent plunge following a 4% decline in annual revenue reported Wednesday, marking the tech giant’s second straight quarter of decline, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
The company failed to impress investors with its virtual reality program known as the metaverse, ad revenue declined as inflation, competition from TikTok and new privacy rules on Apple devices kicked in and the company was hit with a nearly $25 million fine Wednesday for violating campaign finance laws. (RELATED: Big Tech Is In Big Trouble After Brutal Earnings Reports)
The Wednesday fine, levied by a Washington state judge, is the largest campaign finance penalty ever issued, and follows a judge’s finding that the company had failed to produce advertising records for public inspection in a timely fashion, racking up 822 intentional violations of the state’s campaign finance disclosure laws in the process, Axios reported.
Meta lost $3.7 billion on its Reality Labs division over the past year, and generated just $289 million in revenue, half the previous year’s, but nevertheless plans to spend more going forward, Business Insider reported. These expenses have been criticized by investors who questioned spending so much money on a virtual reality that did not appear particularly advanced, prompting an Oct. 24 letter by tech-focused investment firm Altimeter Capital requesting the company limit spending on Reality Labs and other metaverse projects to $5 billion per year, according to Business Insider.
