Meta Platforms owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp and changed its name from Facebook in 2021.
The company announced the rebrand to Meta Platforms in October 2021. The new name emphasized its interest in building the metaverse, a proposed collection of immersive digital spaces, while Facebook remained the name of one of the company’s major social-networking products.
Meta’s market capitalization is influenced by advertising revenue from its social platforms, user growth, engagement, expenses, and investor expectations about virtual and augmented reality. Its Reality Labs division develops products such as the Meta Quest headset.
The corporate rebrand did not mean that Facebook disappeared. Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp continued operating as separate consumer services under the parent company. The stock ticker also changed from FB to META in 2022.