Meta Platforms owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp and is one of the world’s most valuable businesses.
Meta Platforms is the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. It changed its corporate name from Facebook, Inc. to Meta Platforms, Inc. in October 2021, signaling a strategic focus on the metaverse alongside its established social-media services.
Facebook began in 2004, while Meta acquired Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014. These services give Meta a global network of billions of users and make advertising its principal source of revenue.
Meta’s market capitalization reflects investor expectations about advertising growth, artificial intelligence, user engagement, and spending on virtual and augmented reality. The company’s market value can differ substantially from the values of its individual brands because investors value the entire publicly traded corporation.