Facebook Rebrands Company and Changes its Name to Meta

Social media giant Facebook Inc. has announced that it would change its name to Meta in order to reflect growth opportunities at the company that go beyond its social-media platform.

“Over time I hope our company will be seen as a metaverse company,” Mr. Zuckerberg said on Thursday.

Zuckerberg had unveiled the new name for the company that also includes Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and other products at Facebook’s annual developer event.

He additionally detailed his vision for the metaverse that he sees as key to the social-media giant attracting a younger audience.

“We’ve gone from desktop to web to phones, from text to photos to video, but this isn’t the end of the line,” Mr. Zuckerberg said at Facebook Connect. “The next platform and medium will be even more immersive and embodied internet where you’re in the experience, not just looking at it, and we call this the metaverse.”

It was on Monday that the company reported earnings with Zuckerberg saying that Facebook Reality Labs, which encompasses augmented-reality and virtual-reality products and services, is becoming a separate reporting unit and that spending for it would reduce this year’s total operating profit by $10 billion.

“We expect to spend many billions of dollars for years to come,” Mr. Zuckerberg said Thursday.

“I know some people will say this is not a time to focus on the future,” Mr. Zuckerberg said, but argued that it is important to move forward even if mistakes are made along the way.

During the earnings call the chief executive said he is “retooling our teams to make serving young adults their North Star.” That could dent user growth in some of Facebook’s traditional businesses in the near-term but would open new opportunities, he assured.

Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.