MetaMETA
The company behind Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger — the world's largest social network.
Past week: -5.27%
30-day price
Where the chart sits — description, not prediction
Trading below both its 50-day ($619.25) and 200-day ($653.12) averages — the longer-term trend reads as down. 30-day range $562.20–$635.29; currently in the lower third of that range. RSI(14) 40 — momentum weak.
Computed from daily closing prices (Yahoo Finance), June 23, 2026. Compare all markets →
What is Meta?
Meta Platforms, Inc. is a Menlo Park, California technology company that runs the world's most-used social and messaging apps: Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger. Its "Family of Apps" reaches billions of people daily and earns most of its money from targeted advertising.
Founded by Mark Zuckerberg and others in 2004 as Facebook, it went public in 2012 and renamed itself Meta in October 2021 to signal a bet on the "metaverse." Its Reality Labs division builds virtual- and augmented-reality hardware and has run large yearly losses while the ad business stays highly profitable.
What has moved Meta
May 18, 2012 — a rocky $38 IPO
Facebook went public at $38 on May 18, 2012, raising about $16 billion, but Nasdaq glitches marred the debut and the stock sank toward $18 by September 2012. It did not reclaim $38 until August 2013, 16 months later.
March 2018 — the Cambridge Analytica scandal
News that data on up to 87 million users had been harvested wiped more than $36 billion off Facebook's value in days. The FTC later imposed a record $5 billion privacy fine over the episode.
October 28, 2021 — the rebrand to Meta
Facebook renamed its parent company Meta Platforms on October 28, 2021 to signal a long-term metaverse bet, switching its ticker to META in June 2022. Reality Labs losses of $13.7 billion in 2022 weighed on the stock.
February 3, 2022 — a record one-day loss
After reporting the first-ever decline in daily Facebook users, Meta fell about 26% in a single day, erasing roughly $230 billion — the largest one-day market-value loss in US history at the time.
2022 to 2023 — crash, then "Year of Efficiency"
Meta fell from above $380 in 2021 to about $88 in November 2022, down more than 75%, on weak growth and heavy spending. Zuckerberg's 2023 "Year of Efficiency" cut over 21,000 jobs, and the stock roughly tripled that year.
February 2, 2024 — a record one-day gain
Meta tripled profits, launched a $50 billion buyback and declared its first-ever dividend, sending the stock up about 20% on February 2, 2024 — a roughly $197 billion gain, the largest one-day jump in US market history.
April 24, 2024 — AI spending spooks investors
Despite a 27% revenue jump, Meta fell about 16% after soft guidance and a raised capital-spending forecast of $35–$40 billion to fund AI — a recurring pattern of strong earnings but heavy forward investment.
Notable moments
April 2012 — Instagram for about $1 billion
Facebook bought photo-sharing app Instagram for roughly $1 billion just before its IPO, when Instagram had about 30 million users. Widely called overpriced at the time, it became one of Meta's biggest advertising engines.
February 2014 — WhatsApp for about $19 billion
Facebook bought messaging app WhatsApp for about $19 billion in February 2014, one of the largest tech deals ever, when it had around 450 million users — vastly expanding Meta's global reach.
July 2019 — a $5 billion FTC fine
The FTC fined Facebook $5 billion in July 2019 over privacy failures tied to Cambridge Analytica — the largest such penalty against a tech company at the time — and imposed new oversight.
Common questions
What does Meta actually sell?
Almost all of Meta's money comes from digital advertising across Facebook, Instagram and Messenger. In 2024 its apps generated about $162 billion of roughly $165 billion in total revenue. This page is educational, not investment advice.
Why did the ticker change from FB to META?
After renaming itself Meta in October 2021, the company switched its Nasdaq ticker from FB to META on June 9, 2022, once another holder of the META symbol had given it up.
What is Reality Labs?
Reality Labs is Meta's virtual- and augmented-reality division (Quest headsets and AR). It loses tens of billions a year — about $13.7 billion in 2022 and $16.1 billion in 2023 — funded by advertising profits.
When did Meta start paying a dividend?
Meta declared its first-ever dividend, $0.50 a share, on February 1, 2024 — it had paid none in its first 12 years as a public company.