The CEO of Meta has said that the metaverse project will bleed a lot of money and that some products will not be ready for 15 years. Zuckerberg told shareholders that he spent $10-billion on the idea of a virtual world in 2021 alone.
“We want to get the hardware to be as affordable as possible for everyone, and make sure the digital economy grows,” Zuckerberg said.
Meta currently has 10,000 employees working on the metaverse and wants to hire an additional 10,000 to work on the project.
The giant company also announced that it is holding up on hiring, so the plans to push this project forward might be delayed further.
Zuckerberg reportedly rejected other shareholders’ proposals during the meeting on Wednesday too. One made a proposal for Meta to commission a report and hold a shareholder vote on whether the “continued implementation” of the metaverse was “prudent and appropriate.”
Former and current employees said Zuckerberg is not interested in anything other than the metaverse but yet lacks a coherent strategy to carry the project through.
Other shareholders suggested making changes to Meta’s use of concealment clauses in employment contracts related to harassment and discrimination, the publication of an independent human rights impact assessment, and full disclosure of its lobbying and public policy activity.
In the metaverse, users travel across a virtual world that mimics aspects of the physical world using such technologies such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), AI, social media, and digital currency.