Yahoo Finance Meta history: Beyond the Ticker
From its start as a college social network to its focus on virtual reality, Meta (META) has become one of the biggest tech companies in the world.
In 2023, the company generated over $134 billion in revenue, and it has nearly 4 billion active users across its various properties. Let's take a closer look at the company's biggest moments with Beyond the Ticker.
2004
Meta began as Facebook, founded by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes, and Eduardo Saverin.
2006
Originally a “college students only” social network, Facebook expanded its membership to the general public.
2012
In April 2012, Facebook acquired the photo and video-sharing social network service Instagram for $1 billion.
A month after that, Facebook went public via IPO at $38 per share. The company was valued at $104 billion, the largest valuation to date for a newly listed public company.
2014
Facebook acquired the instant messaging and voice-over-IP service WhatsApp for $19 billion.
That same year, Facebook acquired Oculus, a leading virtual reality company, for $2 billion.
2021
Mark Zuckerberg fully rebranded Facebook as Meta, saying that while it would still remain a social networking firm, the new name would also emphasize the company’s new focus on the metaverse.
2023
Meta's Instagram team launched Threads, a new text-sharing app designed to rival Elon Musk's X platform.
Later that year, the company released Meta Quest 3, the first mass-market mixed reality headset, as well as its Meta AI, a generative AI-powered digital assistant.
2024
In February 2024, Meta announced its first quarterly dividend, sending shares of the tech giant soaring.
Meta reached a new all-time high stock price of $527.34 on April 5, 2024, and surpassed the coveted $1 trillion market cap.
The company is now leaning deeper into AI, while continuing to push its metaverse. Meta’s ultimate goal is to blend the two concepts into one coherent platform that can propel its growth well into the future.
From tech giants to retail titans, Beyond the Ticker is a historical series that takes a deep dive into some of Wall Street's trending companies and how they transformed into the financial icons they are today.
Check out more of our Beyond the Ticker series, and be sure to tune in to Yahoo Finance.
Editor's note: This video was produced by Zach Faulds.
Video transcript
From its start as a college social network to its focus on virtual reality meta has become one of the biggest tech companies in the world.
In 2023 it generated over $134 billion in revenue and has nearly 4 billion active users across its various properties.
Let's take a closer look at meta's biggest moments but beyond the ticker meta began as Facebook founded by Ceo Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes and Edward Savin in 2004.
Originally, a college students only social network.
Facebook expanded its membership to the general public in 2006.
In April 2012, Facebook acquired the photo and video sharing social network service, Instagram for $1 billion a month after that, Facebook went public via IP O at $38 per share.
The company was valued at 100 and $4 billion at the time.
The largest valuation to date for a newly listed public company in 2014, Facebook acquired the instant messaging and voice over IP service, whatsapp for $19 billion.
That same year, it acquired Oculus, a leading virtual reality company for 2 billion in 2021 Mark Zuckerberg, fully rebranded Facebook as meta saying that while it would still remain a social networking firm, the new name would also emphasize the company's new focus on the metaverse.
In 2023 the Instagram team launched threads a new text sharing app designed to rival Elon Musk's X platform.
Later that year, the company released the Meta Quest Three, the first mass market mixed reality headset, as well as its Meta A I A generative A I powered digital assistant in February 2024 meta announced its first quarterly dividend.
Sending shares of the tech giant soaring meta reached a new all time high stock price of $527.34 on April 5th 2024 and surpassed the coveted $1 trillion market cap.
The company is now leaning deeper into A I while continuing to push into the metaverse.
The company's ultimate goal is to blend the two concepts into one coherent platform that can propel its growth well into the future.
