Meta investors reportedly 'got more disgusted' with Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse plans after he doubled down in the company's earnings

• Meta shareholders are becoming frustrated with Mark Zuckerberg's plans, Financial Times reported.
• Investors expressed their anger in meetings with Meta executives over the past week, per FT.

Many Meta investors aren't happy with Mark Zuckerberg's plans for the metaverse as the social media company's stock continues to plunge, Financial Times reported.

The company has shed over 70% of its value since the Facebook cofounder first announced its parent company was changing its name to Meta in a pivot toward focusing on building a metaverse. Last week, Meta shares plummeted 24% after the company missed earnings targets and Zuckerberg said he intents to spend billions more on the metaverse project in the coming year. The CEO has already dumped $15 billion into the project this year alone.

"If any other company had done this you'd have activist investors writing letters, proposing alternative slates of directors, demanding change," Jim Tierney, chief funding officer for US development at Meta shareholder AllianceBernstein, told FT. "I think Mark heard crystal clear what investors wanted. He's made his decision."

Investors have expressed their ire and frustration in meetings with Meta executives, including some with Zuckerberg over the past week, FT reported.

But, Tierney told the publication the follow-up meetings made people "more disgusted, not less disgusted."

"They're spending $15 billion a year on the metaverse and they can't give us any mile-markers," he said. "It's just a big hope."

A Meta spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment from Insider, but told FT the company is "focused on executing on the company's key priorities with an eye toward creating long-term shareholder value."

"We value the opinions of our investors and regularly engage with them to ensure we're aware of their respective perspectives," the spokesperson told the publication.

It's standard for public companies to hold meetings with major shareholders after quarterly earnings reports, but Zuckerberg's ironclad control over the company means he essentially has complete veto power over other shareholders when it comes to the company's future. The Facebook founder holds 55% of the company's voting shares. Meta has a dual-class stock structure that provides Zuckerberg, select executive managers, and directors with super-voting power inasmuch as one of their shares is equivalent to 10 votes, while other shareholders are limited to one vote per share.

Financial Times' recent report came after another investor published an open letter ahead of the company's quarterly earnings report, saying Meta has "lost the confidence of investors." Brad Gerstner, whose fund Altimeter Capital owns hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Meta shares, suggested in the letter that Meta limit its investment in its metaverse project, Reality Labs, to no more than $5 billion a year.