By
Andy Watson
April 26th, 2024
The proposed name change by Facebook is not uncommon amongst Wall Street firms and marks a major milestone in the company’s expansionary efforts.
American technology and social service company, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB) is set to rebrand the outfit with a plausible name change billed for the coming weeks. As reported by The Verge, citing people familiar with the matter, the move is centered on the renewed push by the firm to be identified as a pioneer in metaverse development.
The new name the company is going to be called is a very well-guarded secret that seems unknown even to some top executives in the company. Per the reports, the name is billed to be an umbrella identity that will encompass all of the company’s current outfits including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus amongst others.
While the new name is reportedly set to be unveiled by Chief Executive Officer, Mark Zuckerberg at the company’s annual Connect conference on October 28th, there is a high level of certainty that the revelation may be made much sooner. Prior to this time, Zuckerberg has reiterated the company’s near-term goals in which there’s a plan to “effectively transition from people seeing us as primarily being a social media company to being a metaverse company.”
The firm is set to hire as many as 10,000 new employees to help design and build its consumer hardware Augmented Reality (AR) headsets in Europe. These products form a major focus for the Menlo Park-based firm as it hopes AR headsets will soon become a mainstream piece of hardware as much as mobile phones are at the moment.
The metaverse is “going to be a big focus, and I think that this is just going to be a big part of the next chapter for the way that the internet evolves after the mobile internet,” Zuckerberg told The Verge’s Casey Newton this summer. “And I think it’s going to be the next big chapter for our company too, really doubling down in this area.”
Facebook Name Change: a Growing Trend among Wall Street Firms
The proposed name change by Facebook is not uncommon amongst Wall Street firms and marks a major milestone in the company’s expansionary efforts.
One of the biggest name changes in the past years was that of Google, which rebranded to a larger parent company Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOGL) as it shows the world it is set to explore other niches beyond the search engine. Snapchat also changed its name to Snap Inc (NYSE: SNAP) back in 2016, as the firm sought to gain a foothold as a “camera company.”
Not much is known about the Metaverse world Facebook wants to commit its resources to build. However, the concept is beginning to resonate much more in the world of Non-Fungible Token (NFT) proponents, who believe digital avatars and collectors can serve as a link to connect humans into a more surreal world.
Facebook recently launched its Novi Wallet in conjunction with Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ: COIN). The wallet will have capabilities for NFTs, a development that further lends credence to the possibility of NFTs featuring in the company’s future plans for the metaverse.