After years of trading as Facebook, the social media behemoth will begin trading under the ticker code ‘META’ on Thursday, eliminating the last remnant of its previous corporate identity.
In October 2021, Meta Platforms Inc transitioned from its original social networking platform, betting on the metaverse, a shared virtual space, to supersede the mobile internet.
Meta’s co-founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, founded Facebook in 2004 from his Harvard dormitory as a platform for students to meet over the internet.
With almost three billion monthly users, and the addition of famous social media apps Instagram and Whatsapp to its universe, the then 19-year-old student had no idea that Facebook would become a vital part of many people’s social lives.
His company is investing billions of dollars in the metaverse, a future concept of virtual environments where users may work, socialize, and play, by adding new capabilities to physical devices that serve as access points, nearly two decades later.
“Companies that change their official name and ticker are usually trying to signal that there has been a fundamental change in the underlying business model,” Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities in New York, said.
“I’m not sure if it really makes much of a big difference. I still call them Google and Facebook,” Hogan added.
Meta’s stock has dropped roughly 42% this year as the company faces criticism from politicians and authorities about its market power, algorithmic judgments, and anti-abuse policing.
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