Meta is reportedly considering its largest pullback from metaverse spending since its 2021 rebrand, with executives evaluating cuts of up to 30% for its Reality Labs division in 2026. The virtual-reality and metaverse teams, responsible for Horizon Worlds and Quest headsets, face deeper potential reductions than other company groups. This follows over $70 billion in losses for Reality Labs since 2021, as industry momentum for VR has slowed. The news boosted Meta's stock, which rose from a $640 close to around $665 in early trading. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has recently shifted focus toward generative AI and hardware like AI-powered Ray-Ban glasses. Concurrently, the crypto metaverse sector has collapsed, with its total market cap falling from over $500 billion in early 2025 to under $3.4 billion.