Meta Shares Rise 6% As Company Reduces Prices on VR Headsets
Shares of Meta Platforms (META) rose by 6% after the company announced significant price cuts for its virtual reality (VR) headsets. The cost of the Quest 2 will be reduced by $70 to $429.99, while the price of the Quest Pro will drop to $999.99 from $1,499.99. The new pricing for Quest 2 will be effective from Sunday, March 5, while the Quest Pro’s price cuts will begin on March 5 in the U.S. and Canada and March 15 in other supported countries.
Meta stated that its aim has always been to create affordable hardware that enables more people to experience VR’s social and creative potential. IDC’s Jitesh Ubrani attributed the price cuts to Meta’s 93% YoY decline in VR shipments in the fourth quarter of last year, while ByteDance’s rival Pico’s shipments increased by 110%.
Meta’s Reality Labs, which includes its VR headsets, has been under pressure to improve its finances. Activist investor Brad Gerstner called for a pullback in metaverse spending in an open letter to CEO Mark Zuckerberg in October. In February, Meta reported that Reality Labs lost $13.72 billion in 2022.
Despite this, Meta Platforms’ shares have surged by 54% this year, including the gains posted on March 3.
