META’S REALITY CHECK

VR drove out Sheryl

Mark Zuckerberg’s longtime lieutenant Sheryl Sandberg “was just done” with the Meta boss after he made the decision to pivot the company away from its bread-and-butter social media-based business and toward the metaverse, according to a report.

Sandberg (inset), the “Lean In” author and former Google executive, served as Zuckerberg’s No. 2 at Facebook parent company Meta for 14 years before stepping down last year.

While she still serves on the company’s board of directors, Sandberg reportedly grew disillusioned with Zuckerberg’s shift toward the metaverse — the immersive, online-based virtual world that is accessible through virtual reality and augmented reality headsets.

“She wanted no part of the metaverse,” a source told Insider when discussing the breakdown of the Sandberg Zuckerberg partnership. “She was just done.” Zuckerberg poured billions of dollars into pushing the company into the metaverse — angering shareholders who couldn’t figure out the rationale for the expenditure at a time when the company stock was tanking.

Losing Labs

Reality Labs, the division of Meta that develops VR and AR technology, recently reported an operating loss of $3.7 billion.

Since the start of last year, Reality Labs has lost $21.3 billion.

Nonetheless, Meta has seen its stock price mostly recover thanks to Zuckerberg’s “year of efficiency,” which has been marked by layoffs and restructuring.

In the last year, Meta’s stock price has risen by more than 156%. Shares fell 2.1% Monday to $318.60.

Sandberg and other longtime executives departed Meta at around the same time, including Mike Schroepfer, the chief technology officer, and Marne Levine, who was chief business officer.

Zuckerberg ended up replacing those executives with people who did not have the same cachet — enabling the CEO to consolidate power, Insider reported.