Facebook's Commanding Circle

Facebook’s Commanding Circle

Facebook’s reputation has suffered in recent years as a result of a series of high-profile scandals. But its parent company has rebranded to Meta, in what many believe is an attempt to distance itself from the negativity.

The rebranding raises a number of intriguing questions, such as who now owns Facebook? We’ll answer that question in this article, while taking a quick trip down memory lane to figure out how we got here.

From The Facebook To Meta

In 2004, Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes, all Harvard students, founded Facebook. Facebook’s popularity grew quickly, and by the end of 2004, it had surpassed one million active users.

In 2012, Facebook filed to become a publicly-traded company, and its initial public offering (IPO) was priced at $38 per share. The IPO raised approximately $16 billion for the company, valuing it at over $100 billion.

Following a series of serious scandals, Facebook wiped (or tried to wipe) the slate clean with a rebrand. From October 2021, Facebook’s parent company would be known as Meta,according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg .

Of course, the above roadmap is only a summarized version of Facebook’s story. For a more in-depth rundown, check out our coverage of the evolution of Facebook to Meta .

Who Owns Facebook Now?

In the statement announcing the rebranding to Meta, the company clarified that Facebook’s corporate structure would remain the same. This means the same controlling interests that had majority shares in Facebook would also be in charge of Meta. So who are the controlling majority shareholders for Facebook that are now in charge of Meta?

Facebook’s share structure differs from that of other publicly-traded companies, which assign one vote to one share. Facebook is unique in that it has a ‘dual class’ share structure, which divides Facebook shares into two classes, namely “Class A” and “Class B” shares. This is according to SEC filings by the company.

The Class A shares are what normal investors can buy on the stock market, and they come with one vote per share. Class B shares, which are primarily owned by Mark Zuckerberg and a small group of insiders, have 10 votes each.

Mutual funds and other large institutional investors own a significant amount of Facebook stock. According to CNN Business , mutual funds currently own approximately 41% of Facebook’s publicly traded stock, with the Vanguard Group and Fidelity Management leading the pack. Individual Facebook stockholders own less than 2% of the company’s total shares.

Zuckerberg owns roughly 13% of Meta stocks,Bloomberg notes . Despite their low volume, these provide him with the required majority voting power.

Why Did Facebook Rebrand to Meta?

Facebook’s rebrand happened because the brand outgrew the identity that it had come to be known for.

With Facebook’s foray into virtual reality with the Facebook Metaverse, the company thinks that the Meta moniker will be a more suitable identity for their ambition. In the Metaverse, even users without Facebook accounts will have access to products and virtual interaction with others.

It is necessary to point out that the social media platform, Facebook, will keep its name, as will WhatsApp and Instagram. All other Facebook-owned businesses will now be subsidiaries of Meta, the parent company.

Zuckerberg Still (Largely) Owns Meta

The governing structure of Facebook, or Meta as it is now called, remains unchanged despite the rebranding. Zuckerberg, with his Class B share majority, still maintains his iron grip on Facebook.

Zuckerberg will remain in charge of Facebook until he sells his shares or the shares’ power gets diluted. The Meta rebrand is a change in name but not much else.