Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced the name change of Facebook’s holding company to Meta during the Facebook’s annual AR/VR conference on Thursday.
The name change comes in an aim to rebrand the company after it had faced series of public relations crises happened when an ex-employee leaked a few document.
The change does not apply to its individual platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp, only the parent company that owns them.
Zuckerberg spoke elaborately about how the company is planning to build a “metaverse” – a digital world built over our own, comprising virtual reality headsets and augmented reality. “From now on, we’re going to be metaverse-first, not Facebook-first.”
“Over time, I hope that we are seen as a metaverse company and I want to anchor our work and our identity on what we’re building towards,” he told during the virtual conference.
“We’re now looking at and reporting on our business as two different segments, one for our family of apps, and one for our work on future platforms.
“And as part of this, it is time for us to adopt a new company brand to encompass everything that we do, to reflect who we are and what we hope to build.
“We believe the metaverse will be the successor of the mobile internet. We’ll be able to feel present – like we’re right there with people no matter how far apart we actually are.
He also admitted that the Metaverse has a long way to go.
“When I send my parents a video with my kids, they’re going to feel like they’re right in the moment with us not peering through a little window.
“The best way to understand the metaverse is to experience it yourself,” he added.
Zuckerberg also wrote in a blog post on Thursday that the financial results of the company would be changing.
“Starting with our results for the fourth quarter of 2021, we plan to report on two operating segments: Family of Apps and Reality Labs” he explained. “We also intend to start trading under the new stock ticker we have reserved, MVRS, on December 1. Today’s announcement does not affect how we use or share data.”
The company also unveiled the new logo replacing its thumbs-up “Like” logo with a blue infinity shape.
In 2015, Google created a new publicly traded parent company called Alphabet to house its disparate businesses.
