Meta Platforms created the Facebook social network and is publicly traded under the ticker META.
The company was founded as Facebook by Mark Zuckerberg and fellow Harvard students in 2004. It expanded from a university-focused social network into a global technology company operating Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger.
Facebook’s parent company changed its corporate name to Meta Platforms in October 2021. The rebranding emphasized the company’s interest in the metaverse, while Facebook remained the name of one of its major social platforms.
Meta’s market capitalization is influenced by advertising revenue, user engagement, artificial-intelligence investment, and expectations for products such as Reels and WhatsApp business messaging. Meta is sometimes mistakenly called Facebook Inc. in current-company questions; Facebook Inc. was the former corporate name.