Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms
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Name	Meta Platforms, Inc.
Founded	04 February 2004 (as Facebook, Inc.)
Founder	Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes
Hq location city	Menlo Park, California
Hq location country	United States
Key people	Mark Zuckerberg (Chairman and CEO), Sheryl Sandberg (COO), Mike Schroepfer (CTO)
Industry	Social media, Advertising, Consumer electronics, Cloud computing
Products	Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, Oculus, Horizon Worlds
Revenue	▲ US$117.9 billion (2021)
Num employees	71,970 (2021)
Website	about.meta.com

Meta Platforms. It is a multinational technology conglomerate and one of the world's most valuable companies, renowned for its portfolio of social networking and communication services. Founded by Mark Zuckerberg and his Harvard University roommates, the company initially gained prominence through its flagship platform, Facebook, which revolutionized online social interaction. The corporation underwent a significant rebranding in October 2021, shifting its focus toward building an expansive metaverse, a collective virtual shared space.

History

The company originated in 2004 as a project within Harvard University before expanding to other Ivy League schools and eventually the general public. Key early developments included the introduction of the News Feed in 2006 and the opening of the platform to third-party developers in 2007, which spurred rapid growth. It filed for an initial public offering in 2012, one of the largest in technology history, and began trading on the NASDAQ under the ticker FB. A pivotal strategic shift was announced in 2021, with the parent company renaming itself to reflect its new ambition to pioneer the metaverse, while its original app retained the Facebook name.

Products and services

Its core family of applications includes the Facebook social network, the photo-sharing platform Instagram, and the messaging services WhatsApp and Messenger. In the realm of virtual reality and augmented reality, it develops hardware under the Oculus brand, such as the Quest 2 headset, and software platforms like Horizon Worlds. Other significant services include the digital wallet Novi, the Workplace enterprise communication tool, and a growing suite of artificial intelligence research tools developed by its FAIR lab.

Business and acquisitions

Its primary revenue source is digital advertising across its platforms, which leverages user data for highly targeted campaigns. The company has pursued an aggressive acquisition strategy to eliminate competition and integrate new technologies, most notably purchasing Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014. Other significant purchases include the virtual reality company Oculus VR in 2014 and the Giphy image database in 2020, though the latter acquisition was later reversed by order of the Competition and Markets Authority. Its business model and acquisition practices have frequently drawn scrutiny from regulators like the Federal Trade Commission and the European Commission.

Corporate affairs

The company is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, at a campus known as MPK20. Its leadership has long been defined by the dual roles of Mark Zuckerberg as Chairman and CEO and Sheryl Sandberg as Chief Operating Officer. It operates some of the world's largest data centers, supporting its global infrastructure, and has made significant investments in renewable energy projects. The corporate structure gives Zuckerberg controlling voting power through a special class of shares, a arrangement that has been a point of discussion among shareholders and corporate governance analysts.

Criticism and controversies

The company has faced intense global criticism over its handling of user privacy, data practices, and content moderation. Major incidents include the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, which involved the unauthorized harvesting of millions of users' personal data for political advertising. It has been accused of facilitating the spread of misinformation and hate speech, with particular scrutiny around its role in events like the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar and the January 6 United States Capitol attack. Ongoing antitrust investigations by bodies like the U.S. Department of Justice and lawsuits from coalitions of state attorneys general challenge its market dominance and past acquisitions.

Category:Meta Platforms Category:Social media companies Category:Companies based in California