Meta shares climb on report Mark Zuckerberg plans to ax up to 30% of metaverse budget

Core Insights - Meta Platforms is expected to implement budget cuts of up to 30% for its metaverse initiative, as reported by Bloomberg News, which has led to a more than 4% increase in the company's shares [1][2] Group 1: Budget Cuts and Financial Impact - The proposed cuts are part of the company's annual budget planning for 2026, which involved meetings at CEO Mark Zuckerberg's compound in Hawaii last month [2][5] - The significant budget cuts may result in layoffs as early as January [2] Group 2: Strategic Focus and Investments - CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made substantial investments in the augmented-reality unit, with the company changing its name to Meta from Facebook in 2021, and the unit has incurred losses exceeding $60 billion since 2020 [1][3] - Earlier in the year, the company launched a Superintelligence Lab, investing $14.3 billion to acquire a 49% stake in Scale AI, led by CEO Alexandr Wang [4] Group 3: Competitive Landscape - The report on budget cuts comes as Meta seeks to maintain its relevance in the artificial intelligence sector, particularly following the poor reception of its Llama 4 model [2]