Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg adjusts an avatar of himself during a company event in New York City on Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021. Michael Nagle/Bloomberg/Getty Images

He named the company after it, but it may not be long for this world.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly planning to “meaningfully cut” the amount of resources going into building out the metaverse.

According to Bloomberg, Meta may cut budgets “as high as 30%” for its metaverse unit, which spans the game Horizon Worlds and Quest virtual reality headsets.

If true, that would almost certainly mean layoffs. Those could come as soon as January, according to the report.

Where might Meta apply those savings? If you guessed “AI,” you win the prize. (If you guessed “AI-powered wearables,” you win an even bigger prize.)

Meta (then Facebook) moved quickly into the metaverse category in 2018 and put billions behind the effort the following year, predicting that it would become the next version of the Internet and seeking a first-mover advantage. 

But in the years since, few companies joined the fray, and AI emerged as that new interface for information. Zuckerberg has since entered that category with similar zeal. 

Now, it seems, it’s time to sweep up. —AN

With so many departures at Apple lately, many observers are asking: Are there problems at Apple, or is the company suddenly finding solutions?

On Thursday the iPhone maker announced that general counsel Kate Adams and policy chief Lisa Jackson will retire. 

Adams joined Apple from Honeywell in 2017 to oversee the legal aspects of security, privacy, and antitrust. 

Jackson, a former EPA administrator who joined Apple in 2013, focused on making the company’s supply chain carbon neutral, among other things—which led to, for example, the abandonment of leather device cases.

Jennifer Newstead, Meta's former chief legal officer, will replace Adams, reporting to CEO Tim Cook. Newstead will also take over the government affairs portion of Jackson’s role; the rest will be assumed by COO Sabih Khan.

The departures weren’t unexpected. There has been much hand-wringing lately about the future of Apple’s senior leadership team as its chief executive and his loyal lieutenants approach traditional retirement age. 

Though there is no mandatory retirement policy at Apple for anyone except board members (age 75), there has been a feeling among Apple-watchers that we’re seeing a changing of the guard and the laying of a foundation that will one day lead to a new CEO. —AN

Ten European banks have agreed to partner to issue a euro-denominated stablecoin.

The coin will be cleared by Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, or MiCA, and issued in the second half of 2026.

There’s a continental breakfast of big banks involved. Participating institutions—shall we call them the Token Ten?—include BNP Paribas, ING, Banca Sella, KBC, Danske Bank, DekaBank, UniCredit, SEB, CaixaBank, and Raiffeisen Bank International.

Why would the banks want to do such a thing? Two reasons. 

First, they want to see the coin become a trusted way to digitally pay for things in the region—and to do that, they must work together. 

More importantly, they seek to create a viable European alternative in a stablecoin market dominated by U.S. interests. 

And, of course, there are the benefits of the stablecoin itself: low-cost, nearly instantaneous transactions, cross-border payments, 24/7 uptime, et cetera—all good things when time is money. —AN

—Amazon may kick USPS to the curb in favor of its own distribution network.

—Counterpoint to Meta poaching Apple’s top designer: Maybe it’s better for both companies?

—$6,800 AI hearing aids: So hot right now among the well-heeled.

—Microsoft Office subscription price: Goin’ up for commercial customers on July 1.

—A new EU antitrust investigation. EU watchdogs are concerned about Meta’s AI assistant in WhatsApp.

—OpenAI tests LLMs self-reporting how they carried out a task. (In the words of Usher: These are my confessions…)

—Russia blocks FaceTime, claiming that Apple’s video communication service has been used to coordinate terrorism.