The Metaverso is on everyone’s lips: not only among technology enthusiasts, but also among stock market investors. With investment groups putting millions of dollars into the digital future of the internet and companies making it happen grow on Wall Street. But some analysts remain doubtful.
Investors on the stock exchange believe in the Metaverse
SoftBank Group Corp. He ran over 150 million dollars in a South Korean company. This platform allows you to buy unique digital copies of Dior and Gucci products, which virtual avatars can wear and use as accessories. Something that until a few ago made sense only in video games but which is increasingly becoming an important economic reality.
The Metaverse is an online world where you can participate in immersive experiences, from business meetings to virtual concerts, in some cases using virtual or augmented reality. A world with a still science fiction flavor, in which people interact through their own avatar. Who can buy clothes, accessories and even digital real estate. They Stock market investors love it.
Some tech company executives call it “the new phase of the internet“. So much so that Mark Zuckerberg in October changed the name of Facebook to Meta and announced that he wanted to invest billions of dollars in the digital future on the planet. The market response? The value of the company is increased by 11%, in an otherwise complicated period for Facebook. Companies like Roblox e Unity Software Inc. they recorded double-digit increases. And companies like Microsoft e Nvidia, who already have their own plans for metaverse mixed reality, have made even more money after two years of continued growth during the pandemic.
Is there a place for all investors in the Metaverse (?)
In June, the investor Matthew Ball with Roundhill Financial Inc. created META ETF, a fund with various assets in the tech world that are investing in the metaverse. There are 40 different titles, from giants like Apple, Microsoft, Intel e Nvidia, passing through the videogame company ‘meta’ Roblox. Now this fund is worth 800 million dollars, with 11% growth at its peak. In recent days, the stock has fallen along with the whole market due to the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, but remains solid.
Mark Zuckerber announces the birth of Meta
“Investors are excited about this,” says Ball, who thinks the metaverse will represent a percentage in the future between 10 and 20% of the economy global.
Some companies like Matterport, which helps companies digitize the physical world to create the metaverse, he saw growth of 80%. The platform for mixed reality (virtual plus augmented) Glimpse Group has reached peaks of growth of the 76%.
And it seems that every company on the market has noticed this growth. Not only Meta, Apple, Microsoft, Google and Nvidia they have plans for the Metaverse. Even companies like Nike and Adidas have invested in the virtual world, as has the Pokémon Go company Niantic and even Disney. And the list goes on, from the dating app Tinder to the Icelandic Ministry of Tourism.
Some analysts remain skeptical
Investors on the stock market see the metaverse as a new way for companies to grow, an important resource for increasing profits. But how does it explain No End, which manages a fund with shares of Meta, Nvidia and Microsoft, you have to keep your feet on the ground. The real one, not the virtual one. “I think it’s very easy to get caught up in the metaverse hype, but what it really means in terms of business cash flows in the end? ”.
The risk remains very high. If enthusiasm can raise the value of the shares, only the trust in the solidity of a company allows you to keep the value high. Apple and Microsoft are unlikely to collapse if the metaverse isn’t the sure future we expect, but other companies (with higher percentage earnings) could.
Dave Egan, analyst interviewed by the Wall Street Journal, explains that investing in companies that produce hardware (especially chips) and the tools to build the metaverse are less risky investments. “We want to bet, there is no doubt. But we don’t want to throw our money away either ”. In fact the actions of Nvidia grew by 25% since Meta unveiled its plans, an enormous amount for such a large company.
It therefore seems that investors are enthusiastic about the Metaverse, but that for the moment the stock market is focusing more on those technologies that allow it to be built. To use a metaphor, they are focusing more on the company that sells them foundations than on project of the House. In the next few years we will be able to see if the foundations are solid enough to really hold such a large percentage of the planet’s economic future.