Facebook is over.
Seven months after formally asserting the demise of Facebook (FB) – Get Meta Platforms Inc. Class A Report, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of the social media big, is making ready to bury it.
Tired of controversies and scandals, the tech tycoon final October determined to experience the metaverse development, hyped as the way forward for the web.
This digital or different world, by which we’ll talk by avatars and with the assistance of technological instruments, is seen as the following huge leap into the way forward for Zuckerberg and the social platforms he runs.
If this leap is slightly a leap into the unknown — given the billions of {dollars} of losses that the investments within the concept have to date prompted — Zuckerberg believes strongly in it.
The proof: On June 9 Facebook shall be buried. Then will rise Meta Platforms, which can fully substitute the enormous of social networks. On today, the inventory image FB, which represents Facebook, shall be changed by META, and the transformation shall be full.
“Meta Platforms, Inc. today announced that its Class A common stock will begin trading on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol META prior to market open on June 9, 2022,” the corporate stated in a information launch.
“This will replace the company’s current ticker symbol, FB, which has been used since its initial public offering in 2012.
“The new ticker image aligns with the corporate’s rebranding from Facebook to Meta, introduced on October 28, 2021,” the Menlo Park, Calif., company said.
Holders need not take any action.
This change is the last piece of the Zuckerberg edifice to be put in place. Now, Facebook will be just a platform, like the company’s Instagram photo site and WhatsApp message service.
In February, Zuckerberg had launched the first crucial stage of the building by saying that from that point on, Facebook employees would be known as Metamates instead of Facebookers.
“Meta, Metamates, Me is about being good stewards of our firm and mission,” Zuckerberg had said. “It’s about the sense of responsibility we have for our collective success and to each other as teammates. It’s about taking care of our company and each other.”
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The company’s motto also changed and became “Meta, Metamates, Me.”
But the agency’s initiatives associated to this immersive world would have “important” financial losses over three to five years, Zuckerberg told shareholders at the annual meeting on May 25. Holders should brace themselves for additional losses linked to the metaverse.
The division of Facebook working on this virtual universe, Reality Labs, which includes augmented and virtual-reality-related consumer hardware, software and content, posted a $2.96 billion loss on revenue of $695 million for the first quarter.
Reality Labs lost $10.2 billion in 2021, more than double the operating losses recorded in 2020 — $4.62 billion. In 2019, the operating loss was $4.5 billion.
FAANG Is Dead. MAANG?
“When Facebook launched in 2004, it modified the best way folks join,” the company said. “Apps like Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp additional empowered billions around the globe.”
Now, “Meta is transferring past 2D screens towards immersive experiences like augmented and digital actuality to assist construct the following evolution in social expertise.”
The change comes at a tricky time for the social media giant. In April Meta reported 2.94 billion monthly active users worldwide. But its stock fell 42% this year through May. At last check it was trading around $192.
The birth of Meta also means the end of the famous FAANG acronym: Facebook, Apple (AAPL) – Get Apple Inc. Report, Amazon (AMZN) – Get Amazon.com, Inc. Report, Netflix (NFLX) – Get Netflix, Inc. Report and Google (GOOGL) – Get Alphabet Inc. Class A Report. Investors will now have to get used to MAANG.
For Zuckerberg, the stake is beyond the immediate economic aspect of the metaverse. He hopes to bring a fresh start to the group and users, especially with regard to Gen Z, who may not be familiar with the scandals that have rocked the company.
These include the case of the British consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, which collected data from millions of Facebook profiles and used the information to help the presidential campaigns of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Donald Trump, who went on to win the presidency in 2016.
The company apologized for its role in the data harvesting and Zuckerberg testified in front of Congress.
Three years later, Facebook reached an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission whereby the company would pay a $5 billion penalty over privacy violations.
Arguably the biggest blow to the company came last year from Frances Haugen, a former product manager, who revealed herself as the whistleblower behind a series of documents leaked to The Wall Street Journal.
Haugen, who would later testify before Senate lawmakers, accused the social media giant of putting profits over the impact of hate speech.
Facebook denied the allegations, stating that “to counsel we encourage dangerous content material and do nothing is simply not true. … We proceed to make important enhancements to deal with the unfold of misinformation and dangerous content material.”
Source: www.thestreet.com