5 Companies Currently Owned by Mark Zuckerberg's Meta Revealed
After 17 years, billionaire entrepreneur Mark Zuckerberg changed the name of his money-spinning social media company Facebook to Meta.
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This, Mark explained, was to reflect the company's vision and what it stands for. However, it is not the first or second time he'd be changing its name and interestingly, there are other companies Meta owns.
In this article, Briefly News highlights 5 companies Mark Zuckerberg's Meta owns. Apart from Meta, it is intriguing to note that ownership of the 5 companies was obtained via acquisition.
1. Beluga
Beluga, a messaging service, would probably have rivalled Meta's messenger if it hadn't been acquired.
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The service was acquired by Meta on March 2, 2011, for an undisclosed fee. This is a year after it was founded.
Beluga was at that time undergoing a fundraising process for an undisclosed sum. It would go on to be one of Meta's successful acquisitions.
2. Onavo
Investopedia estimates that Onavo's acquisition cost is in the region of $100–200 million.
The Israeli-owned mobile web analytics company was founded in 2010 and was acquired by Mark's Meta in October 2013,
The platform would later be pulled down from iOS and Android app stores after it faced harsh criticism as many classified it as spyware.
3. Oculus VR
Acquired on March 25, 2014, Oculus VR is a virtual reality hardware and software company Meta bought after WhatsApp.
Its acquisition fee was pegged at $2.0 billion. Since its purchase, Oculus VR has witnessed a quick presence in the virtual reality market.
4. WhatsApp
This has got to be one of Meta's biggest acquisitions. WhatsApp was acquired on February 19, 2014, for a whopping sum of $19.0 billion.
The mobile messaging platform which was founded in 2009 is a low-cost alternative to standard text messaging services.
It is believed that WhatsApp would have been Meta's biggest rival had it not been acquired.
5. Instagram
The photo and video sharing app, Instagram is another big acquisition by Meta. Instagram was acquired for $1.0 billion on April 9, 2012.
In order to build and grow the platform independently, Instagram is run separately from Meta.
Some experts estimate that Instagram generates more revenue.
Mark Zuckerberg announces $1 billion reward for Facebook and Instagram content creators
Meanwhile, it was previously reported that Mark Zuckerberg had announced a $1 billion reward for Facebook and Instagram content creators.
Zuckerberg made the announcement in a brief statement posted on his verified Facebook page on Wednesday, July 14.
The statement reads:
"We want to build the best platforms for millions of creators to make a living, so we're creating new programs to invest over $1 billion to reward creators for great content they create on Facebook and Instagram through 2022.
"Investing in creators isn't new for us, but I'm excited to expand this work over time. More details soon."
Source: Briefly News
Maryn Blignaut (Human-Interest HOD) Maryn Blignaut is the Human Interest manager and feature writer. She holds a BA degree in Communication Science, which she obtained from the University of South Africa in 2016. She joined the Briefly - South African News team shortly after graduating and has over six years of experience in the journalism field. Maryn passed the AFP Digital Investigation Techniques course (Google News Initiative), as well as a set of trainings for journalists by Google News Initiative. You can reach her at: maryn.blignaut@briefly.co.za
Kelly Lippke (Senior Editor) Kelly Lippke is a copy editor/proofreader who started her career at the Northern-Natal Courier with a BA in Communication Science/Psychology (Unisa, 2007). Kelly has worked for several Caxton publications, including the Highway Mail and Northglen News. Kelly’s unique editing perspective stems from an additional major in Linguistics. Kelly joined Briefly News in 2018 and she has 14 years of experience. Kelly has also passed a set of trainings by Google News Initiative. You can reach her at kelly.lippke@briefly.co.za.