Mark Zuckerberg is the largest shareholder in the company. Zuckerberg retains ownership and control of the company. Like Google, Facebook has issued two common stocks, Class A and Class B. The holders of Class B common stocks are entitled to ten votes per share, and holders of our Class A common stocks are entitled to one vote per share. Mark Zuckerberg has a voting power of 61.1%; he’s the primary decision-maker. Other individual investors comprise Sheryl Sandberg, Christopher Cox, Marc Andreessen, Peter Thiel, Dustin Moskovitz, and Eduardo Saverin.
Aspect
Description
Analysis
Examples
Products and Services
Meta offers a range of products and services in the social media, virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR) domains. Its primary social media platform, Facebook, connects billions of users worldwide. Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger are also part of Meta’s social media ecosystem. Oculus VR devices and the Metaverse are prominent offerings in the VR and AR sectors. The company provides advertising and digital marketing solutions to businesses through its ad platform.
Meta’s core products include social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger, catering to billions of users for communication and content sharing. Oculus VR devices and the Metaverse represent its ambitions in immersive technologies. Advertising and digital marketing solutions on its ad platform generate substantial revenue. Meta serves both individual users and businesses with its diverse product portfolio.
Social media platforms connecting billions of users (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger), immersive technologies with Oculus VR devices and the Metaverse, advertising and digital marketing solutions through the ad platform, catering to individual users and businesses with a diverse product portfolio.
Revenue Streams
Meta generates revenue primarily from digital advertising. Businesses pay to advertise their products and services on Meta’s platforms, targeting users based on demographic and behavioral data. The company also earns income from its virtual reality hardware sales, subscriptions, and app store sales.
The main source of revenue for Meta is digital advertising, with businesses leveraging the platform’s extensive user base and targeting capabilities. Income also comes from the sale of Oculus VR hardware, subscription services, and app store sales within the VR ecosystem. Meta’s diversified revenue streams provide financial stability.
Revenue from digital advertising through its platforms, income from the sale of Oculus VR hardware, subscription services, and app store sales in the VR ecosystem, diversified revenue sources ensuring financial stability.
Customer Segments
Meta serves a broad customer base that includes individual users of its social media platforms and businesses seeking to advertise and engage with users. Individual users utilize Meta’s platforms for social networking and communication. Businesses use Meta’s advertising tools to reach their target audience and promote their products and services.
Customer segments for Meta encompass individual users who use its social media platforms for social networking and communication. Businesses are another key segment that leverages Meta’s advertising tools to reach and engage with their target audience. Meta caters to both individual users and businesses with its products and services.
Individual users using social media platforms for social networking and communication, businesses leveraging advertising tools to reach their target audience and promote products and services, catering to a diverse customer base.
Distribution Channels
Meta’s products and services are primarily distributed through digital channels. Users can access its social media platforms and VR content through mobile apps, websites, and VR headsets. Businesses utilize Meta’s advertising platform, which is accessible online. Meta also collaborates with hardware retailers to distribute Oculus VR devices through physical stores.
Distribution channels for Meta encompass digital platforms, including mobile apps, websites, and VR headsets, providing users with access to social media and VR content. Businesses access the advertising platform online to promote products and services. Collaborations with hardware retailers extend the distribution of Oculus VR devices through physical stores. Meta employs a multi-channel approach for accessibility.
Digital platforms for users to access social media and VR content (mobile apps, websites, VR headsets), online advertising platform for businesses, collaborations with hardware retailers for Oculus VR device distribution through physical stores, multi-channel approach ensuring accessibility.
Key Partnerships
Meta collaborates with various partners to enhance its offerings and expand its ecosystem. These partnerships may involve content creators and publishers for social media content, app developers for the VR ecosystem, and hardware manufacturers for Oculus VR devices. The company also collaborates with advertisers and businesses for digital marketing solutions.
Collaborations with content creators, publishers, and app developers enrich Meta’s content libraries in social media and the VR ecosystem. Partnerships with hardware manufacturers ensure the availability of Oculus VR devices. Cooperation with advertisers and businesses enhances digital marketing solutions. Meta’s partnerships contribute to the growth of its ecosystem.
Collaborations with content creators, publishers, and app developers for enriched content libraries, partnerships with hardware manufacturers ensuring Oculus VR device availability, cooperation with advertisers and businesses for enhanced digital marketing solutions, partnerships contributing to ecosystem growth.
Key Resources
Meta’s key resources include its extensive user base on social media platforms, technology infrastructure for content delivery and data analysis, a diverse workforce, and a recognized brand in social networking. The company’s VR hardware development and content creation capabilities are vital for its immersive technology initiatives. Data generated from user interactions and behaviors are valuable assets for targeted advertising.
Key resources for Meta encompass its vast user base on social media platforms, advanced technology infrastructure for content delivery and data analysis, a diverse and skilled workforce, and a renowned brand in social networking. Hardware development and content creation capabilities support immersive technology ventures. User data is a valuable asset for targeted advertising and personalization. Meta’s resources empower its digital and immersive offerings.
Vast user base on social media platforms, advanced technology infrastructure for content delivery and data analysis, diverse and skilled workforce, renowned brand in social networking, hardware development and content creation capabilities for immersive technology initiatives, valuable user data for targeted advertising and personalization, resources empowering digital and immersive offerings.
Cost Structure
Meta incurs costs related to the operation and maintenance of its technology infrastructure, including servers and data centers. Employee salaries and benefits contribute to workforce management. Research and development expenses support innovation and the development of new technologies. Marketing and advertising costs promote its platforms and VR devices. Additionally, Meta manages costs associated with content licensing and partnerships.
Costs associated with Meta’s operations include technology infrastructure maintenance (servers, data centers), employee salaries and benefits for workforce management, research and development expenditures for innovation, marketing and advertising expenses promoting platforms and VR devices, costs related to content licensing and partnerships. The company efficiently manages expenses while driving innovation and growth.
Costs related to technology infrastructure maintenance (servers, data centers), employee salaries and benefits for workforce management, research and development expenditures for innovation, marketing and advertising expenses promoting platforms and VR devices, costs associated with content licensing and partnerships, efficient cost management driving innovation and growth.
Competitive Advantage
Meta’s competitive advantage lies in its extensive user base across its social media platforms, which attracts advertisers seeking to reach a broad audience. Advanced technology infrastructure enables data analysis for targeted advertising and content personalization. Its strong brand recognition and reputation in social networking foster user trust and loyalty. The company’s immersive technology initiatives, including Oculus VR devices and the Metaverse, position it as a leader in the future of digital interaction. Collaborations with content creators and developers enrich its content offerings.
Meta’s competitive edge is rooted in its vast user base on social media platforms, a magnet for advertisers seeking broad audience reach. Advanced technology infrastructure supports data analysis for targeted advertising and content personalization. A trusted brand and social networking reputation foster user trust and loyalty. Immersive technology ventures, including Oculus VR devices and the Metaverse, position Meta at the forefront of digital interaction. Collaborations with content creators and developers enhance content offerings.
Extensive user base on social media platforms attracting advertisers for broad audience reach, advanced technology infrastructure enabling data analysis for targeted advertising and content personalization, trusted brand and social networking reputation fostering user trust and loyalty, leadership in immersive technology ventures (Oculus VR devices, Metaverse), collaborations with content creators and developers enriching content offerings, competitive advantages driving Meta’s growth and influence.
An American lawyer and former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman, a 17-year Republican United States House of Representatives member. Christopher Cox is an attorney, teacher, and entrepreneur.
Who is Sheryl Sandberg?
Sheryl Sandberg is an American businesswoman. She served as the chief operating officer of Facebook from 2008 until she stepped down in 2022.
In June 2012, she was also elected to the board of directors by the existing board members, becoming the first woman to serve on its board.
Before Facebook, Sandberg was Google’s Vice President of Global Online Sales and Operations.
Who is Eduardo Saverin?
Eduardo Saverin is a Brazilian internet entrepreneur and investor. Saverin is one of five co-founders of Facebook (with Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes, and Andrew McCollum).
Who is Peter Thiel?
Peter Thiel is a German-born American entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and hedge fund manager. Thiel co-founded PayPal with Max Levchin and served as its CEO.
Who is Marc Andreessen?
Marc Andreessen is an American entrepreneur, investor, software engineer, and multi-millionaire. He is best known as the co-author of Mosaic, the first widely used Web browser; as co-founder of Netscape Communications Corporation; and as co-founder and general partner of Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.
Even though there are several sources of income, most of the revenue comes from ads:
Facebook, the main product of Meta, is an attention merchant. As such, its algorithms condense the attention of over 2.91 billion monthly active users as of June 2021. Meta generated $117.9 billion in revenues in 2021, of which $114.9 billion was from advertising (97.4% of the total revenues) and over $2.2 billion from Reality Labs (the augmented and virtual reality products arm).
How Does Facebook Make Money?
Facebook is a cash machine worth billions that can generate revenues at higher margins than Google considering it has lower traffic acquisition costs. One of its secrets is its ability to attract billions of people each day and keep them hooked to its products (be it Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp).
Facebook makes most of its money from advertising:Â
1. Advertising (over 97.4% of revenues): it consists of displaying ad products on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and third-party.Â
2. Reality Labs: now consisting of all the development of products for the Metaverse. Here it includes Oculus, now rebranded as Meta Quest.
Key Highlights
Mark Zuckerberg: As the largest shareholder, Mark Zuckerberg holds a voting power of 56.9%, allowing him to retain ownership and control of the company.
Class A and Class B Common Stocks: Facebook has two types of common stocks, with Class B shareholders entitled to ten votes per share and Class A shareholders entitled to one vote per share.
Other Individual Investors: Notable individual investors in Facebook include Sheryl Sandberg, Christopher Cox, Marc Andreessen, Peter Thiel, Dustin Moskovitz, and Eduardo Saverin.
Facebook’s Business Model: Facebook’s primary revenue source is advertising, contributing over 97.4% of its total revenues. The company displays ad products on its platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger.
Reality Labs: Facebook also generates revenue from its Reality Labs division, which focuses on products for the Metaverse, including Oculus (now rebranded as Meta Quest) and other augmented and virtual reality products.
Mark Zuckerberg is the largest shareholder in the company. Zuckerberg retains ownership and control of the company. Like Google, Facebook has issued two common stocks, Class A and Class B. The holders of Class B common stocks are entitled to ten votes per share, and holders of our Class A common stocks are entitled to one vote per share. Mark Zuckerberg has a voting power of 61.1%; he’s the primary decision-maker. Other individual investors comprise Sheryl Sandberg, Christopher Cox, Marc Andreessen, Peter Thiel, Dustin Moskovitz, and Eduardo Saverin.
Facebook, the main product of Meta is an attention merchant. As such, its algorithms condense the attention of over 2.91 billion monthly active users as of June 2021. Meta generated $117.9 billion in revenues, in 2021, of which $114.9 billion from advertising (97.4% of the total revenues) and over $2.2 billion from Reality Labs (the augmented and virtual reality products arm).
Facebook generated most of its revenue from advertising in 2023. Indeed, the company generated $131.95B from advertising, $1.89B billion from its reality labs segment, and over a billion in other revenue.
By September 2022, Facebook’s (Meta) employee count had peaked at 87,314. Yet, as revenue slew down for the first time in years, the company announced a layoff of 13% of its workforce, bringing the headcount to 75,964. By March 2023, Meta announced another round of layoffs, dubbed “The Year of Efficiency,” which brought the headcount down to less than 66 thousand employees. By the end of 2023, Facebook reported 67,317 employees.
In 2022, post layoffs, Facebook generated $1,535,056 per employee, compared to $1,638,586 in 2021. In 2023, as Facebook (now Meta) completed its mass layoffs, the company reported nearly $135 billion in revenue and 67,317 employees, with a $2,003,981 revenue per employee.
Facebook (Meta) gained users in 2023. In fact, in 2023, Facebook had over three billion users worldwide, of which 272 million were in Canada, 408 million were in Europe, over 1.3 billion were in Asia, and over a billion were in the rest of the world.
ARPU, or average revenue per user, is a crucial metric for attention merchants like Facebook. It assesses the ability of the platform to monetize its users. For instance, by the end of 2023, Meta’s ARPU worldwide was $13.12. In the US & Canada, it was $68.44; in Europe, it was $23.14; in Asia-Pacific, $5.52; and in the rest of the world, it was $4.50.
ARPU, or average revenue per user, is a crucial metric for attention merchants like Facebook. It assesses the ability of the platform to monetize its users. For instance, by the end of 2023, Meta’s ARPU worldwide was $13.12. In the US & Canada, it was $68.44; in Europe, it was $23.14; in Asia-Pacific, $5.52; and in the rest of the world, it was $4.50.
Facebook (Meta) revenue in 2023 increased to $134.9B, compared to $116.6B in 2022. Its profitability increased to $39.1B in 2023, compared to $23.2B in 2022 and $39.37B in 2021.
Facebook is characterized by a multi-faceted matrix organizational structure. The company utilizes a flat organizational structure in combination with corporate function-based teams and product-based or geographic divisions. The flat organization structure is organized around the leadership of Mark Zuckerberg, and the key executives around him. On the other hand, the function-based teams based on the main corporate functions (like HR, productmanagement, investor relations, and so on).
Instagram makes money via visual advertising. Acquired by Facebook for a billion-dollar in 2012, today, Instagram is integrated into the overall Facebook (now rebranded as Meta) business strategy. In 2018, Instagram founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger left the company as Facebook pushed toward tighter integration of the two platforms. In 2022, Instagram is the most successful product still, in Meta’s portfolio.
Founded in 2009 by Brian Acton, Jan Koum WhatsApp is a messaging app acquired by Facebook in 2014 for $19B. In 2018 WhatsApp rolled out customers’ interaction services, starting to make money on slow responses from companies. And Facebook also announced conversations on WhatsApp prompted by Facebook Ads.
OpenAI is an artificial intelligence research laboratory that transitioned into a for-profit organization in 2019, which comprised an entity called OpenAI LP and the non-profit parent foundation OpenAI. The lab, which was founded in 2015 by Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and various others, has a core focus on the development of friendly AI that benefits society as a whole. Yet now has primarily evolved as a capped-for-profit entity with an exclusive commercial license to Microsoft.
Its co-founders primarily own Airbnb: Brian Chesky, with 76,407,686 Class B shares, which gives him 29.1% of ownership; Nathan Blecharczyk, with 232,306 Class A and 64,646,713 Class B, which give him 25.3%; and Joe Gebbia, which has 5,113,865 Class A and 58,023,452 Class B, which give him 22.9% ownership.
Google is primarily owned by its founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who have more than 51% voting power. Other individual shareholders comprise John Doerr (1.5%), a venture capitalist and early investor in Google, and CEO, Sundar Pichai. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has 4.2% voting power. The most prominent institutional shareholders are mutual funds BlackRock and The Vanguard Group, with 2.7% and 3.1%, respectively.
Mark Zuckerberg is the largest shareholder in the company. Zuckerberg retains ownership and control of the company. Like Google, Facebook has issued two common stocks, Class A and Class B. The holders of Class B common stocks are entitled to ten votes per share, and holders of our Class A common stocks are entitled to one vote per share. Mark Zuckerberg has a voting power of 56.9%; he’s the primary decision-maker. Other individual investors comprise Sheryl Sandberg, Christopher Cox, Marc Andreessen, Peter Thiel, Dustin Moskovitz, and Eduardo Saverin.
As of 2023, major Apple shareholders comprised Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway with 5.73% of the company’s stock (valued at over $130 billion). Followed by other individual shareholders like Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, with about 3.3 million shares, Artur Levinson, chairman of Apple, with over 4.5 million shares, and others.
With 64,588,418 shares, Jeff Bezos is the major individual investor. Owning 12.7% of the company. Other top individual investors comprise Amazon’s CEO Andy Jessy, with 94,729 shares. Top institutional investors include mutual funds like The Vanguard Group (6.6% ownership) and BlackRock (5.7% ownership).
Major shareholders comprise co-founder Bill Gates, who stepped down from the company’s board in 2020, which is why these shares are no longer publicly reported. In 2019, Gates still owned a stake of 103 million stocks, which accounted for 1.34% of the company’s ownership (worth over $23 billion in January 2023). Other individual shareholders comprise Satya Nadella, the company’s CEO, Brad Smith (former president), Jean-Philippe Courtois (EVP), and Amy Hood (former CFO).
By 2022, most of Tesla’s shares are still owned by Elon Musk, among the company’s co-founders and the CEO. Elon Musk is the top individual investor, with a 23.5% stake in the company, equivalent to over 244 million shares. Musk is followed by Lawrence Ellison (founder of Oracle), with a 1.5% company stake. Ellison also sits on Tesla’s board. And Antonio Gracias, among the company’s first investors, has over 1.6 million shares. Other institutional investors and mutual funds like The Vanguard Group (6%), Blackrock (5.1%), and Capital Ventures International also have a good chunk of the company’s stocks.
PayPal was first founded in 1998; it was called Confinity (among its founders was Peter Thiel); later, it merged with X.com, its major competitor, founded by Elon Musk (which would become known for other companies like Tesla and SpaceX). From this merger, PayPal was born. In 2002, PayPal was bought by eBay for $1.5 billion. eBay spun off PayPal in 2015, which would be listed as an independent entity. Today PayPal owns brands like Braintree, Venmo, Xoom, and iZettle.
Netflix’s largest individual shareholder is Reed Hastings, co-founder, and former CEO of the company, now Chairperson of Netflix, with a 1.7% stake, valued at over $2.4 billion in February 2023. Other significant individual shareholders comprise Jay C. Hoag, the company’s directors since 1999, and Ted Sarandos, former chief content officer and now Chief Executive Officer of Netflix. Major institutional shareholders comprise The Vanguard Group (7.55% ownership), BlackRock (6.58% ownership), and Capital Research Global Investments (5.84% ownership).
TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese internet technology company owning several content platforms worldwide (Douyin, Toutiao, Xigua Video, Helo, Lark, Babe). Bytedance passed the $300 billion private market valuation by 2022, making around $58 billion in revenue in 2022, over $4 billion from TikTok.
Acquired by Google, in 2006, for $1.65 billion, YouTube is now worth many times over. In 2022, YouTube generated over $29 billion in revenue from advertising alone. YouTube is part of Google (now named Alphabet), and as such, it is owned by main Google’s Alphabet shareholders and is one of the fastest-growing segments for the company.
As of April 25th, 2022, Elon Musk tried to take over Twitter. Musk tried to purchase the company at $54.20 per share, or about $44 billion. The deal finally closed by October 27th, 2022, and Elon Musk became the largest shareholder.
The multi-billion music streaming company Spotify is primarily owned by its founders, Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. As of 2023, Daniel Ek has 16.5% ownership of ordinary shares and 31.7% of the voting power. Martin Lorentzon has 10.9% of ordinary shares and 42.6% of the voting power. Another key shareholder is Baillie Gifford & Co, a Scottish-based money management firm, followed by Morgan Stanley, T. Rowe Price, and Tencent.
The top individual shareholder of NVIDIA is Jen-Hsun Huang, founder, and CEO of the company, with 87,521,722 shares giving him 3.50% ownership. Followed by Mark A. Stevens, venture capitalist and a partner at S-Cubed Capital, who was part of the NVIDIA board in 2008 and previously served as a director from 1993 to 2006, with 6,258,803 shares. Institutional investors comprise The Vanguard Group, Inc, with 196,015,550, owning 7.83%. BlackRock, Inc., with 177,858,484, owns 7.10%. And FMR LLC (Fidelity Institutional Asset Management) with 158,039,922, owning 6.31%.
Uber’s principal individual shareholders comprise Yasir Al-Rumayyan (3.73%), the Governor of the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Dara Khosrowshahi, the founder and CEO of Uber. There is Morgan Stanley, with 5.12% ownership among the top institutional investors.
The founder and CEO of Shopify, Tobias Lütke, owned or controlled 7,891,852 Class B multiple voting shares and 5,250 Class A subordinate voting shares, representing approximately 33.8% of the aggregate voting power attached to all of the Company’s outstanding voting shares. Another key stakeholder is John H. Phillips, an angel investor who placed an early bet on Shopify.
Roblox is owned by David Baszucki and Gregory Baszucki, with a 2.3% and 2.6% stake, respectively. Anthony lee, managing partner at Altos Ventures, with a 15.3% stake.
In 2014, Twitch was bought by Amazon for $970 million. Therefore Twitch is part of Amazon, comprising other subsidiaries bought over the years, like Audible, Whole Foods, and Zappos (in total, Amazon has 12 subsidiaries). Therefore, as of 2020, Twitch is a multi-billion dollar company, making money primarily via advertising through its video streaming platform (creators use Twitch today across many other verticals).
Zoom’s principal private shareholders comprise Eric S. Yuan, a Chinese-American billionaire businessman that founded Zoom. Dan Scheinman, board member and angel investor in Zoom since the start, and Santiago Subotovsky, also an early investor in Zoom. Zoom follows a freeterprise business model where free accounts are channeled into enterprise customers.
In one of the largest deals in the business world, Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard in a $68.7 billion transaction. Making Microsoft the world’s third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony. However, given the size of the deal, this is still under the scrutiny of regulators who need to approve it. If the deal goes through, Microsoft will become among the largest gaming companies in the world.
Pixar is owned by The Walt Disney Company, which acquired it in 2006 in a $7.4 billion deal. Today Pixar is part of the Disney Empire. The principal shareholders of Disney comprise Robert Iger, CEO of the company, and institutional investors like The Vanguard Group and Blackrock.
Marc Benioff, Co-CEO of Salesforce, is the primary individual shareholder, with 3% of the company’s stock. Other main individual shareholders comprise Parker Harris, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, and Bret Taylor, former co-CEO. Major institutional shareholders include The Vanguard Group, Fidelity, and BlackRock.
In a $27.7 billion deal in 2021, Salesforce’s finalized the acquisition of Slack, which was integrated into Salesforce. Today Slack is still a product mostly independently managed by Salesforce, which incorporated some of its features within its platform. Entrepreneur Marc Benioff primarily owns salesforce.
Evan Spiegel and Robert Cornelius Murphy are the co-founders and, respectively, CEO and CTO of Snapchat. Evan Spiegel owns 3% of Class A stocks, 25.7% of Class B stocks, and 53.4% of Class C stocks for a 53.2% voting power, whereas Robert Murphy owns 6% of Class A stocks, 25.7% of Class B stocks, and 46.6% of Class C stocks for a 46.6% voting power. Snapchat runs an advertising-based businessmodel.
Main individual shareholders comprise co-founders Brian Armstrong (59.5% voting power), Frederick Ernest Ehrsam (26.1% voting power), and other individual investors such as Surojit Chatterjee (current CPO “poached” from Google), Paul Grewal (former magistrate who joined Coinbase as Chief Legal Officer), and venture capitalists who early on invested on Coinbase, like Marc Andreessen (founder of a16z) and Fred Wilson (founder of Union Square Ventures), together with venture capital firms like Andreessen Horowitz, Paradigm, Ribbit Capital and Union Square Ventures.
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
