Meta-Investor calls for layoffs and less metaverse

Mark Zuckerberg is facing headwind from within his own ranks. In an open letter, an investor sharply criticizes the Meta CEO – in the future he should save primarily on personnel costs and spend less money on the Metaverse.

Mark Zuckerberg only presented the plans for his Metaverse last summer. A project that costs the US company a lot of money.

But exactly this circumstance does not only find supporters. That’s why investor Brad Gerstner, chairman and CEO of Altimeter Capital, has nine an open letter written.

Meta: What is the open letter about?

In it, the investor addresses CEO Mark Zuckerberg directly. Gerstner wrote it “with some hesitation”, but now shares it with “great conviction”.

Like many other companies in a world of zero interest rates, Meta has drifted into the land of plenty — too many people, too many ideas, not enough urgency.

The group must focus more in the future. Because a lack of it is only inconspicuous in times of growth. If growth slows and technology changes, this deficiency can be “deadly”.

Investor orders layoffs and reduced spending on Metaverse

In his open letter, Gerstner recommends a three-stage plan to the company. In this way, the group could double its free cash flow to 40 billion US dollars annually.

Meta needs to restore the confidence of investors, employees and the tech community to attract, inspire and retain the best people in the world.

To do this, however, personnel costs would have to be reduced by at least 20 percent. The company is to reduce annual investments by at least five billion to around 25 billion US dollars.

But not only Mark Zuckerberg gets his fat in the open letter. Investor Brad Gerstner also sharply criticized his plans for the Metaverse.

What is the Metaverse anyway?

People are confused as to what the Metaverse is all about. That would “might not even be a problem” if Meta were only pouring $1-2 billion into the project annually.

An estimated investment of over $100 billion in an unknown future is oversized and terrifying even by Silicon Valley standards.

Instead, the company plans to invest between $10 billion and $15 billion annually in the Metaverse. It could take up to ten years for the project to make a profit. In his letter, Gerstner therefore calls for this spending to be limited to five billion US dollars a year.

Poor sales figures frustrate meta-investors

Barely a year after the plans for the Metaverse were announced, the company had to announce its first drop in sales since going public in 2012.

Investors should be anything but happy about this. Among them is Altimeter Capital — the company held more than two million meta shares as of the end of the second quarter.

According to Gerstner, Meta stock has fallen 55 percent over the past 18 months. However, this decline is not just an indicator of “the bad mood on the market”.

This fall in the share price reflects the lost confidence in the company.

Meta has “more reach, more relevancy and more incredible growth opportunities” than many other platforms in the world. That’s why Meta has to find “his mojo” again and go into the future “fit and focused”.

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