Gabriel Aul Steps Down as Meta Metaverse Head
"Even though we will still have Gabe for a few more months, please join me in wishing him all the best in his much deserved retirement."
— Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth
Gabriel Aul, who took the helm of Meta's metaverse products group in October 2024, announced his retirement in February 2025, according to an internal memo obtained by Business Insider.
His successor is already in place. Saxs Persson, a former Epic Games executive who joined Meta during the same October restructuring, will "fully take over" as head of Horizon, the memo states. Aul remained in an advisory role for a few months before fully departing the company last month, per his LinkedIn profile.
Aul's promotion last October was part of a broader shakeup. The previous top metaverse executive, Vishal Shah, left during that reorganization to join Meta's superintelligence effort.
Reality Labs in Transition
Meta's Reality Labs division—which oversees the metaverse—has faced significant turbulence in recent months:
- Substantial layoffs were conducted in March.
- The company briefly ended support for its virtual world Horizon on VR headsets, later reversing that decision, according to CTO Andrew Bosworth's Instagram post.
Meanwhile, Meta has shifted investment toward AI, doubling capital expenditures to a range of $125 billion to $145 billion for 2025.
Company Statement
A Meta spokesperson referred to Bosworth's broader vision: the metaverse is not limited to Horizon Worlds but involves blending digital and physical worlds to "define the next computing platform."
The memo announcing Aul's departure makes no mention of the Metaverse unit once headed by Aul. Aul did not respond to a request for comment.