They have one of the worst brand reputations in tech. Their business model in general is being targeted by regulators and policymakers in jurisdictions big and small all over the world, and the various abuses of their specific platform is often used as a clear example of why. TikTok is giving them very strong competition, and their efforts to play copycat are not being received well by users. Investors are now far less enamored with tech, and capital is tight in general since the economy is in a precarious situation. Their CEO is unaccountable, and people he relied on to build a successful business to begin with (eg. Sheryl Sandberg) are gone, and he’s spending all his focus on a completely different product that lacks traction. He insists on centering himself as a personality in media, despite the fact that he is uncharismatic and his appearances tend to reinforce the brand’s negative reputation.
Even if VR is the future, there’s no indication that Meta is the company that knows how to build something people want here, let alone profit it at, but it continues to pour massive amounts of money, talent and executive attention into this, and it sounds like they’re not planning to change course.
Meta has earned its price drop.
