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An attendee wears a Meta Platforms Inc. Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality (VR) headset at the Telefonica SA stand on day two of the Mobile World Congress at the Fira de Barcelona venue in Barcelona, Spain, on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023.

Angel Garcia | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Meta is spending billions of dollars a quarter to fulfill CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s dream of a futuristic virtual world that he calls the metaverse.

Despite the company’s commitment to making its founder’s dream come true, the virtual reality market is contracting.

Sales of VR headsets and augmented reality glasses in the U.S. plummeted nearly 40% to $664 million in 2023, as of Nov. 25, according to data shared with CNBC by research firm Circana. That’s a much steeper drop than last year, when sales of AR and VR devices slid 2% to $1.1 billion.

The two-year decline underscores Meta’s continuing challenge in bringing the immersive technology out of a niche gaming corner and into the mainstream. While Zuckerberg said, in announcing Facebook’s pivot to Meta in late 2021, that it would likely take a decade to reach a billion users, he may need to start showing more optimistic data to appease a shareholder base that’s been critical of the company’s hefty and risky investments.

Thus far, there hasn’t been a breakout success — or killer app — to validate Zuckerberg’s vision. Meta’s Reality Labs unit, which is developing VR and AR technologies, lost $3.7 billion in the third quarter on sales of $210 million. In total, the division has lost about $25 billion since the beginning of 2022, shortly after Zuckerberg renamed his company.  

Meta declined to provide a comment for this story but pointed to a blog post on Monday from Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth, who runs Reality Labs. Bosworth called artificial intelligence and the metaverse Meta’s “two long-term bets on technologies of the future,” and said they’re beginning to “intersect in the form of products accessible to huge numbers of people.”

“Making long-term bets on emerging technologies isn’t easy,” Bosworth wrote. “It’s not guaranteed to work, and it’s certainly not cheap. It’s also one of the most valuable things a technology company can do — and the only way to remain relevant over the long run.”

Meta is currently the leader in the VR market, with sales of its Quest-branded headsets representing the bulk of the U.S. market by a large margin, said Ben Arnold, Circana’s consumer technology analyst. Sony released its second-generation PlayStation VR2 headset earlier this year but hasn’t picked up much market share due in part to the device’s reliance on the PlayStation 5 video game console, Arnold said.

Sony didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Arnold attributed the market’s rough year to a dearth of new stand-alone VR headsets that could excite users and a continued lack of a breakout app that has wide appeal among mainstream consumers.

Meta debuted the Quest 3 VR in October, starting at $499, or $200 more than where the predecessor Quest 2’s base model was initially priced in 2020. Sales have at least been strong enough to help lift the VR market during the pivotal holiday period, even if the year overall has been week.

Andrew Bosworth, Chief Technology Officer of Facebook, speaks during Meta Connect event at Meta headquarters in Menlo Park, California on September 27, 2023.

Josh Edelson | AFP | Getty Images

During an eight-week period spanning October and November, sales of VR headsets in the U.S. were $271 million, a 42% jump from the $191 million generated during the same period last year, Circana data showed.

Arnold said that the design and appeal of VR headsets has significantly improved over the years, and that “the products are progressing along a timeline that makes sense.”

“If there’s a challenge there, it’s how do you get great content for this hardware, how do pull some of those levers that enable a developer to put more resources into building a game or some kind of experience,” Arnold said. “That’s a little bit about the economics, and it’s about how many people are gravitating towards this platform or this particular device, and if I’m a developer, is that worth my while.”

Meta is hoping the Quest 3 will inspire developers to create compelling apps and games that utilize the device’s so-called passthrough feature, which allows for augmented reality experiences that mix digital graphics with real-world experiences. Numerous developers who attended Meta’s Connect conference in September said the passthrough technology represented an upgrade from the Quest 2.

Bosworth wrote in his blog post that, “Within months of the Meta Quest 3 launch, seven of the top 20 apps are mixed reality apps.” He added that Meta is “seeing strong signals that people really value these experiences.”

Bosworth said Meta is testing generative AI technologies in its newest Ray-Ban smart glasses to help people translate foreign languages “or come up with a funny caption for a photo you’ve taken.”

“Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses will let AI see the world from our perspective for the first time,” he wrote.

The company’s second-generation Ray-Ban glasses were released in October with a starting price of $299. Meta is hoping the devices offer another path for Zuckerberg to realize his metaverse vision, which has thus far been tethered to Quest headsets.

Here comes Apple

Heading into 2024, the big wild card for the VR market is Apple.

In June, Apple unveiled its Vision Pro mixed-reality headset, which is slated to hit the market next year at a starting price of $3,499.

The premium price suggests Apple is targeting early adopters, developers and companies as potential customers, VR developers told CNBC at Meta’s Connect event. VR enthusiasts are excited about Apple’s first headset, considering the company’s smashing success with consumer devices, and Vision Pro’s potential to integrate with products like the iPhone and iPad.

Apple didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The Vision Pro’s debut could also play a pivotal role in bolstering the fledging VR and AR market in 2024, according to research from IDC. In a September news release about the state of the market, Ramon Llamas, IDC research director, said, “Apple’s entry next year will bring much needed attention to a small market, but it will also force other companies to compete in different ways.”

Andrew Boone, an analyst at JMP Securities, said he was initially so impressed by Apple’s Vision Pro demos that he began to worry about Meta’s future in the market.

His thought at first was, “Apple was so far ahead that maybe Meta would just throw in the towel,” Boone said.

“I think my tone on that has changed,” he said. “I think the price was too high to actually get mass demand, so Zuck is going after a different version of this. Clearly, the Quest is more game focused.”

Apple CEO Tim Cook: We're excited about what we're seeing from Vision Pro developer labs

Boone says there’s “enough differentiation” between the Quest and Vision Pro devices that they can cater to different crowds, though he expects to learn a lot more about the VR market over the next 12 months.

Rolf Illenberger, CEO of German VR startup VRdirect, said companies are excited about the Vision Pro “because it’s Apple,” but there’s a perception that it’s more of a “lifestyle” device. Apple’s demos highlighted more entertainment-friendly uses like the ability to watch movies on a giant virtual display. Apple describes the Vision Pro as a “spatial computer,” capable of blending the physical world with digital content and visuals.

“That product is premium, so it also got people thinking about what does an ultra-premium experience look like and what are the use cases that arise from that,” said Circana’s Arnold.

High hopes for the enterprise

Illenberger sees the potential for Meta’s Quest 3 to make a splash in the enterprise for tasks like workforce training, onboarding and marketing. He noted that the device is $500 cheaper than the Quest Pro, which was released in 2022 as more of a business-focused device, and has many of the same features.

The consumer is more challenging. Aside from “early adopters and hardcore gaming kids,” Illenberger says, “there’s not enough convincing arguments to spend even $500 on VR.”

In the corporate VR market, Meta and Taiwan’s HTC are the leading suppliers of devices. Pico-branded headsets from TikTok parent ByteDance “are losing more and more ground,” Illenberger said. ByteDance has reportedly canceled the next version of its Pico headset and is instead shifting resources to another device more similar to Apple’s Vision Pro.

ByteDance didn’t respond to a request for comment.

When it comes to selling to businesses, Illenberger says Meta is starting to benefit from its name change in late 2021. He said that Zuckerberg’s rebranding has had a “psychological” impact on some companies who feel more more comfortable purchasing the devices without the tarnish of Facebook’s brand and the numerous associated data privacy scandals

“Rebranding the company to Meta was a genius move,” Illenberger said. “Not because he’s claiming the market for his company, but people more and more forget that Meta is in fact Facebook.”

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Intel appoints Lip-Bu Tan as new CEO, stock jumps 12%

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Intel appoints Lip-Bu Tan as new CEO, stock jumps 12%

Lip-Bu Tan appointed chief executive officer of Intel Corporation

Courtesy: Intel

Intel said on Wednesday that it had appointed Lip-Bu Tan as its new CEO, as the chipmaker attempts to recover from a tumultuous four-year run under Pat Gelsinger.

Tan was previously CEO of Cadence Design Systems, which makes software used by all the major chip designers, including Intel. He was an Intel board member but departed last year, citing other commitments.

Tan replaces interim co-CEOs David Zinsner and MJ Holthaus, who took over in December when former Intel CEO Patrick Gelsinger was ousted. Tan is also rejoining Intel’s board.

The appointment closes a chaotic chapter in Intel’s history, as investors pressured the semiconductor company to cut costs and spin off businesses due to declining sales and an inability to crack the booming artificial intelligence market.

Intel shares rose over 12% in extended trading on Wednesday.

Tan becomes the fourth permanent CEO at Intel in seven years. Following Brian Krzanich’s resignation in 2018, after the revelations of an inappropriate relationship with an employee, Bob Swan took the helm in Jan. 2019. He departed two years later after Intel suffered numerous blows from competitors and chip delays. Swan was succeeded by Gelsinger in 2021.

Gelsinger took over with a bold plan to transform Intel’s business to manufacture chips for other companies in addition to its own, becoming a foundry. But Intel’s overall products revenue continued to decline, and investors fretted over the significant capital expenditures needed for such massive chip production, including constructing a $20 billion dollar factory complex in Ohio.

Last fall, after a disappointing earnings report, Intel appeared to be for sale, and reportedly drew interest from rival companies including Qualcomm. Analysts assessed the possibility of Intel spinning off its foundry division or selling its products division — including server and PC chips — to a rival.

In AI, Intel has gotten trounced by Nvidia, whose graphics processing units (GPUs) have become the chip of choice for developers over the past few years.

In January, Intel issued a weak forecast even as it beat on earnings and revenue. The company pointed to seasonality, economic conditions and competition, and said clients are digesting inventory. The prospect of tariffs was adding to the uncertainty, Zinsner said.

Intel said that Zinsner will return to his previous role of CFO. Holthaus will remain in charge of Intel Products.

Intel was removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average in November and was replaced by Nvidia, reflecting the dramatic change of fortune in the semiconductor industry. Intel shares lost 60% of their value last year, while Nvidia’s stock price soared 171%. At Wednesday’s close, Intel’s market cap was $89.5 billion, less than one-thirtieth of Nvidia’s valuation.

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Shares of iRobot tank 30% after Roomba maker raises doubt about its survival

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Shares of iRobot tank 30% after Roomba maker raises doubt about its survival

Roomba vacuums by iRobot are displayed at Best Buy store on January 19, 2024 in San Rafael, California. 

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

Shares of iRobot plunged more than 30% on Wednesday after it said there is “substantial doubt” about its ability to stay in business.

The Roomba maker’s financial outlook has darkened since Amazon abandoned its planned $1.7 billion acquisition of the company in January 2024, citing regulatory scrutiny. Since then, iRobot has struggled to generate cash and pay off debts.

Massachusetts-based iRobot has been restructuring since the Amazon deal plunged into uncertainty. The company has laid off 51% of its workforce since the end of 2023, and iRobot has looked to reignite revenue growth by overhauling its product lineup. The company on Tuesday launched eight new Roombas in the hopes of “better positioning iRobot as the leader in the category that we created,” CEO Gary Cohen said in a statement.

“There can be no assurance that the new product launches will be successful,” iRobot said in its Wednesday earnings statement, citing limited consumer demand, tariff uncertainty and heightened competition.

“Given these uncertainties and the implication they may have on the company’s financials, there is substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least 12 months,” iRobot said in its earnings report.

The company’s fourth-quarter revenue sagged 44% year over year to $172 million, missing estimates of $180.8 million, according to FactSet. The Roomba maker posted a net loss of $77.1 million, or $2.52 per share. Excluding a one-time “manufacturing transition charge,” iRobot had a loss of $2.06 a share, exceeding the $1.73 per share projected by analysts surveyed by FactSet.

In July 2023, iRobot took a $200 million loan from the Carlyle Group to fund the company’s operations as a stopgap until the Amazon deal closed. The company amended the loan for a temporary waiver on certain financial obligations, which requires iRobot to pay a fee of $3.6 million.

As part of Wednesday’s report, iRobot said its board has initiated a strategic review of the business and is considering alternatives that could include refinancing its debt and exploring a potential sale. The board hasn’t set a deadline for when its review will conclude, the company said.

Shortly after the Amazon deal fell apart, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy criticized regulators’ approach to its iRobot acquisition. European Union regulators threatened to block the deal, and the Federal Trade Commission in the U.S. was reportedly expected to challenge the acquisition in court.

The proposed merger, which was announced in late 2022, would have allowed iRobot to scale and better compete with its rivals, Jassy said. Several of the fastest-growing robotic vacuum businesses are based in China, such as Anker, Ecovacs and Roborock, all of which have eaten into iRobot’s share of the market.

“We abdicate the acquisition, iRobot lays off a third of its staff, the stock price completely tanks, and now, there’s a real question of whether they’re going to be a going concern,” Jassy told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin in an interview last April.

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FTC asks to delay Amazon Prime deceptive practices case, citing staffing shortfalls

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FTC asks to delay Amazon Prime deceptive practices case, citing staffing shortfalls

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The Federal Trade Commission asked a judge in Seattle to delay the start of its trial accusing Amazon of duping consumers into signing up for its Prime program, citing resource constraints.

Attorneys for the FTC made the request during a status hearing on Wednesday before Judge John Chun in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. Chun had set a Sept. 22 start date for the trial.

Jonathan Cohen, an attorney for the FTC, asked Chun for a two-month continuance on the case due to staffing and budgetary shortfalls.

The FTC’s request comes amid a push by the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency to reduce spending. DOGE, which is led by tech baron Elon Musk, has slashed the federal government’s workforce by more than 62,000 workers in February alone.

“We have lost employees in the agency, in our division and on our case team,” Cohen said.

Chun asked Cohen how the FTC’s situation “will be different in two months” if the agency is “in crisis now, as far as resources.” Cohen responded by saying that he “cannot guarantee if things won’t be even worse.” He pointed to the possibility that the FTC may have to move to another office “unexpectedly,” which could hamper its ability to prepare for the trial.

“But there’s a lot of reason to believe … we may have been through the brunt of it, at least for a little while,” Cohen said.

John Hueston, an attorney for Amazon, disputed Cohen’s request to push back the trial date.

“There has been no showing on this call that the government does not have the resources to proceed to trial with the trial date as presently set,” Hueston said. “What I heard is that they’ve got the whole trial team still intact. Maybe there’s going to be an office move. And by the way, both in government and private sector, I’ve never heard of an office move being more than a few days disruptive.”

The FTC sued Amazon in June 2023, alleging that the online retailer was deceiving millions of customers into signing up for its Prime program and sabotaging their attempts to cancel it. Amazon has denied any wrongdoing, calling the FTC’s claims “wrong on the facts and the law.”

“Amazon tricked and trapped people into recurring subscriptions without their consent, not only frustrating users but also costing them significant money,” former FTC Chair Lina Khan said at the time.

The FTC brought a separate case against Amazon in September 2023 accusing it of wielding an illegal monopoly. The agency alleged that Amazon prevents sellers from offering cheaper prices elsewhere through its anti-discounting measures. That case is set to go to trial in October 2026.

In the time since the FTC filed its cases, Khan has been replaced as the head of the FTC by Trump appointee Andrew Ferguson. Tech companies, which are the target of several regulatory agencies, have sought to curry favor with Trump, including Amazon founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos. He attended President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, and Amazon was among several tech companies to donate $1 million to Trump’s inauguration committee.

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