Who Owns Meta Platforms? Top Facebook (Meta) Shareholders
Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp; are all social media platforms that have become essential tools in our daily lives. The enterprise in charge of these popular applications is the tech company Meta Platforms.
Holding most social media platforms we know today, in addition to many other products and services, Meta has grown into one of the biggest tech conglomerates in the world. But who owns Meta Platforms? The company’s shareholders range from big investment firms to employees and company foremen, with the biggest Meta Platforms shareholders, ranked in this article.
Table of Contents
Key Takeaways
- Meta Platforms, formerly known as Facebook, has adopted multiple popular social media platforms, including Instagram and WhatsApp.
- Meta Platforms IPO sold for $38.00 but shares today sell for $488.92, highlighting the company’s growth over the past two decades.
- Meta Platforms is a public company with 2,549,405,106 outstanding shares.
- The company’s ownership structure is defined by its shareholders, which can be divided into institutional and individual shareholders.
- The biggest Meta Platforms shareholder is Mark Zuckerberg, with a 13.5% share worth over $168.9 billion.
Meta Platforms Ownership History
Meta Platforms (META) is a multinational tech company offering multiple well-known products and services. Facebook was founded in February of 2004, with the company’s IPO eight years later. The shares sold for about $38.00 in 2012, but with the company's growth in the past decade, the price has increased to the current price of $488.92.
After launching Facebook, the company adopted Instagram in 2012 and both WhatsApp and VR glasses company Oculus in 2014. The following years revolved around growing their users and developing the daughter corporations under the Facebook name. The rebranding of the company did not happen until 2021 when the organisation decided to start operating under the new Meta Platforms name.
The question of “who owns Meta Platforms” is answered by explaining its ownership structure. The biggest Meta Platforms shareholders can be divided in two categories; institutional investors and individual investors. Together they have ownership over the 2,549,405,106 outstanding shares the company has.
Top 3 Institutional Shareholders
The first category of shareholders we will highlight is institutional shareholders. Here are the top 3 biggest institutional shareholders who own Meta Platforms.
1. Vanguard Group
This company is a global asset management company based in Pennsylvania. As of May 2024, the management company holds $9.3 trillion in assets, a massive growth since its founding in 1975. Even though the company is privately owned, the ownership structure is much more than that. The funds owned by Vanguard own the company itself, therefore Vanguard’s clients have ownership over it. Vanguard Group holds 8.4% of Meta Platforms, which translates to 186,347,527 shares with a worth of about $91.1 billion.
2. BlackRock Inc
The second largest Meta Platforms shareholder is Blackrock Inc; an investment company that specializes in risk and asset management. Founded in 1988 by Larry Fink, Robert S. Kapito, Susan Wagner, Barbara Novick, Ben Golub, Hugh Frater, Ralph Schlosstein, and Keith Anderson, the company has become the largest provider of exchange-traded funds (ETFs). With clients in over a hundred countries, this multinational Meta Platforms shareholder holds 7.1% of Meta’s shares. Their 157,849,942 shares are estimated to be worth around $77.2 billion.
3. FMR, Fidelity Investments
Financial service company Fidelity Investments, formerly known as Fidelity Management and Research, is an asset management company like the other institutional Meta Platforms shareholders mentioned above. Their financial services include managing mutual funds, running a brokerage firm, providing fund distribution and offering investment advice. With more than $5 trillion in assets under management, FMR places itself amongst the biggest asset management companies in the world. Fidelity Investments has ownership over 134,012,721 shares, a 6.037% stake in Meta, worth about $65.2 billion.
Top 3 Individual Shareholders
The second category of shareholders Meta Platforms has, are individual shareholders, who are mainly employees or ex-employees. Below are the top 3 biggest individual shareholders who own Meta Platforms.
1. Mark Zuckerberg
Zuckerberg is the co-founder and current Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Meta Platforms. Out of the group of four Facebook founders, Mark Zuckerberg is the only founder who still works at the company. Together with his wife, Priscilla Chan, the Facebook CEO has set up a charitable organisation that will eventually donate 99% of the couple’s wealth throughout their lifetime; the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Zuckerberg is the biggest Meta Platforms shareholder, with 13.5% of the company owned through CZI. This amounts to 345,473,496 shares worth well over $168.9 billion.
2. Sheryl K. Sandberg
This individual shareholder is a tech executive, a writer and a philanthropist. Acquiring the position of Chief Operating Officer of Meta Platforms, formerly known as Facebook, in 2008, Sandberg could be seen as one of the company’s early staff. However, she decided to leave her position of COO in 2022, leaving her responsibilities in the hands of Javier Olivan. Besides her work at Meta Platforms, Sheryl K. Sandberg also had a hand in founding LeanIn.org. As the second-biggest individual Meta Platforms shareholder, Sandberg owns 0.05% of the company’s outstanding shares. This translates to 1,373,362 shares worth almost $671.5 million.
3. Michael Schroepfer
Starting off as Meta Platforms’ Chief Technology Officer (CTO) in 2013, Schroepfer had a big impact on the company’s usage of AI. He held his position until 2022, in which he decided to become a Senior Fellow. His focus since then has been on climate-crisis-related philanthropic work and investments. Besides his work with Meta, Schroepfer has other projects tied to his name. He founded CenterRun in 2000 and continued his career at Sun Microsystems, after it took over CenterRun, and Mozilla Corporation after that. Schroepfer owns 0.04% of Meta’s outstanding shares, meaning his shares of 1,054,630, have a total worth of about $515.6 million.
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Conclusion
Meta Platforms is a tech company offering products and services that are used every day. Since its founding in 2004, under the former name Facebook, the company has adopted many popular social media platforms and VR company Oculus. Its ownership structure divides its shareholders into institutional Meta Platforms shareholders and individual Meta Platforms shareholders. The biggest shareholder is Mark Zuckerberg, with a 13.5% share of the company.
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FAQs on Largest Meta Shareholders
What is Meta Platforms?
Meta Platforms is a tech conglomerate mostly known for their ownership over Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Oculus.
Who are the shareholders of Meta?
Meta has institutional and individual shareholders. The biggest institutional shareholders are Vanguard Group, Blackrock Inc and Fidelity Investments. The biggest individual shareholders are Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl K. Sandberg and Christopher K. Cox.
What percentage of Meta does Zuckerberg own?
Mark Zuckerberg is the biggest Meta Platforms shareholder with ownership of over 13.5% of the company.
How many Meta shares are there?
Meta Platforms has 2,549,405,106 outstanding shares.
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