By Meghan Bobrowsky and Georgia Wells

Meta Platforms is planning cuts to the metaverse, an arena Mark Zuckerberg once called the future of the company.

The proposed changes are part of Meta's annual budget planning for 2026, and the company plans to shift spending from the metaverse to AI wearables, according to a person familiar with the matter. Several tech companies including Apple are working on wearable devices they believe might become the next major computing platform.

The decision marks a sharp departure from the vision Zuckerberg laid out in 2021, when he changed the name of his company to Meta Platforms, from Facebook, to reflect his belief in growth opportunities in the online digital realm known as the metaverse. Meta has seen operating losses of more than $77 billion since 2020 in its Reality Labs division, which includes its metaverse work.

Write to Meghan Bobrowsky at meghan.bobrowsky@wsj.com and Georgia Wells at georgia.wells@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 04, 2025 16:52 ET (21:52 GMT)

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