Which company owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp under one corporate group?
Answer
Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp under one corporate group.
The company was founded as Facebook in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and fellow Harvard students. Facebook grew from a college social-networking site into a worldwide platform, then acquired Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014.
In 2021, Facebook, Inc. changed its corporate name to Meta Platforms, Inc. The rebrand reflected a broader focus on social networking, virtual and augmented reality, and the company’s Reality Labs division. Facebook remains the name of one of its major services.
A common mix-up is saying that Meta and Facebook are separate publicly traded companies. Facebook is a Meta service, while Meta Platforms is the listed parent company. The company’s revenue has historically relied heavily on digital advertising across its family of applications.