After a decade of trading as Facebook, the social media giant is shedding the last vestige of its old corporate avatar as it begins trading under the ticker symbol META on Thursday.
Meta Platforms rebranded from its eponymous social
networking platform in October 2021, betting that the metaverse, a shared
virtual realm, will succeed mobile Internet.
Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's co-founder and CEO, established
Facebook in 2004 from his Harvard dorm as a way for students to meet via the
Internet.
Little did the then 19-year-old student know that Facebook
would become integral to many people's social life, with nearly three billion
monthly users, and expand to include popular social media apps Instagram and
Whatsapp in its universe.
Nearly two decades on, his company is pouring billions of
dollars into the metaverse, a futuristic idea of virtual environments where
users can work, socialize and play, by adding new features to hardware devices
that serve as access points.
"Companies that change their official name and ticker
are usually trying to signal that there has been a fundamental change in the
underlying business model," Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National
Securities in New York, said.
"I'm not sure if it really makes much of a big
difference. I still call them Google and Facebook," Hogan added.
Meta shares have fallen nearly 42 percent this year as it
battles criticism from lawmakers and regulators over its market power, algorithmic
decisions and its policing of abuses. © Reuters
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