Facebook parent company Meta has revealed its earnings for the third quarter, and they haven’t come in as anticipated.

The company reported a four percent drop in revenue, to $27.7 billion, which is down from a year earlier.

Net income dropped 52 percent, down to $4.4b, whilst spending soared by 19 percent.

The Reality Labs division, which is responsible for the virtual and augmented reality efforts in the Metaverse, lost $3.7b, compared with $2.6b a year earlier.

This is also due to the hardware being constructed, in relation to its Quest 3 headsets, which will launch later next year.

Meta announced in September a staff hiring freeze and potential restructuring.

Shares in the social media giant have dropped by 20 percent in after-hours trading.