Business | A year in the life of Meta

How Mark Zuckerberg escaped a metaverse-sized hole

His long-term bet still stands, though

US-INTERNET-ADVERTISING-META
Image: Getty Images
|SAN FRANCISCO

IT HAS BEEN quite a year for Mark Zuckerberg. The co-founder of Facebook, a social-media Goliath now called Meta, is no stranger to public rebuke. But exactly a year ago even investors appeared to throw in the towel, accusing him of trashing the core business while lavishing money on his pharaonic dreams for the metaverse, a virtual world where he alone appeared to float in a deluded fantasy realm. On the day Meta issued weak third-quarter earnings last year, its share price fell by more than a fifth. Zuck’s name was mud.

Explore more

This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “A new Meta narrative”

America’s test

From the October 28th 2023 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

More from Business

From Coachella to Burning Man, festivals are having a bad year

Tickets are no longer selling out

What a takeover offer for 7-Eleven says about business in Japan

Its merger with a Canadian firm would create a convenience-store goliath


Why Germany’s watchmakers are worried about the AfD

The far-right party threatens the industry’s brand


What to do about pets in the office

Dogs can bring both joy and chaos

Why America’s tech giants have got bigger and stronger

Whatever happened to creative destruction?

India’s largest airline is flying high

IndiGo has conquered its home market. Its ambitions are rising