Tech and Finance Giants Report Mixed Results Amid AI Investments and Economic Headwinds
Major tech and finance companies released their latest earnings reports on Wednesday, revealing a mix of successes and challenges as they navigate the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence and shifting economic conditions. Tesla reported its first-ever annual decline in revenue, while Meta disclosed significant losses in its virtual reality division, even as it plans a major AI rollout in the coming year.
Tesla's revenue fell 3% year-on-year to $24.9 billion in the final quarter of 2025, according to the company's report. The electric car company's total revenue for 2025 was $94.8 billion, down from $97.7 billion the previous year, marking a notable downturn for the company.
Meanwhile, Meta's earnings report revealed substantial losses in its virtual reality business, Reality Labs. The unit lost $19.1 billion in 2025, slightly more than the $17.7 billion lost in 2024, according to TechCrunch. In the fourth quarter alone, Reality Labs posted a loss of $6.2 billion against sales of $955 million. Throughout 2025, the unit generated $2.2 billion in sales. Earlier in January, Meta laid off 10 members of the Reality Labs staff, reportedly cutting as many as 1,000 employees, TechCrunch reported.
Despite the losses in VR, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressed optimism about the company's AI initiatives. "In 2025, we rebuilt the foundations of our AI program," Zuckerberg said on an investor call Wednesday, according to TechCrunch. He added that Meta would begin shipping new AI models and products in the coming months, with a focus on AI-driven commerce. Zuckerberg teased "new agentic shopping tools" that would allow users to find products from businesses in Meta's catalog.
In other news, a Swedish amusement park was fined nearly €588,000 ($491,000) in connection with a 2023 rollercoaster derailment that resulted in one death and nine injuries, Euronews reported. The incident occurred on June 25, 2023, on the Jetline ride at the Gröna Lund park. Witnesses described a chaotic scene as the front of the train appeared to jump off the tracks before coming to a stop, with one car tilted toward the ground. Three people were thrown off the rollercoaster.
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