Meta is still enormously valuable, but Zuckerberg's back-to-back bets on virtual reality and AI are eating the company from the inside, which is bad news for Meta shareholders and for anyone who still uses Facebook.

• Meta's VR arm has burned through more than $70 billion since it launched, and funding was cut by 30% late last year after the Metaverse failed to attract users.
• Facebook and Instagram are being flooded with AI-generated junk, much of it made by overseas posters chasing Meta's own creator payouts.
• The business risk is simple: advertisers won't pay to reach bots, and nobody buys data on fake users.
• Meta plans to spend up to $145 billion on AI this year, nearly double last year, while cutting 8,000 jobs — and the stock fell 5% when Zuckerberg admitted results are not there yet.
• Zuckerberg controls 60% of the voting power through special founder shares, so no shareholder, not even BlackRock or Vanguard, can stop him.

Outlook: Expect more expensive AI launches, more user backlash, and more pressure on Meta's stock if the spending keeps outrunning the payoff.