Meta Platforms owns the Instagram and WhatsApp platforms and trades under the ticker META.
Meta Platforms is the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. It adopted the name Meta in October 2021, changing from Facebook, Inc. as the company emphasized a broader vision involving social platforms, virtual worlds, and immersive technologies.
Facebook was founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and fellow students at Harvard University. Meta acquired Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014. Those acquisitions expanded the company’s global reach and added major communication and media services beyond the original Facebook network.
META is the Nasdaq ticker for Meta Platforms’ Class A common stock. The ticker changed from FB in 2022. Meta is often confused with the metaverse itself, but Meta is a corporation; the metaverse is a broad concept involving interconnected virtual and augmented digital environments.