By Capital.com news
In October 2021, the parent company of the world’s most popular social media platform decided to change its name from Facebook (FB) to Meta Platforms (META) as part of an ongoing shift to the metaverse.
As a result, the corporation created a new business unit called the “Reality Labs” that will be in charge of developing this virtual realm.
META stock shed 62% of its value in 2022, as the compnay grappled with poor financial performance and macro woes. It seems that some ofFacebook’s backers have fled the scene in fear that this pivot could threaten to derail the firm’s financial performance in the future.
Who are Facebook shareholders at the moment and why should investors care? In this article, we share the details about who owns the most shares of Facebook and what influence they might have on the future of the business.
What is Meta Platforms (META)?
Meta Platforms is the name of the company that was formerly known as Facebook. Founded in 2004 by a group of Harvard students including its current CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, after they created a social app called The Facebook.
Since then, Facebook has grown to become the world’s largest social media platform with approximately 2.9 billion monthly active users. In addition, the parent company acquired two widely successful mobile apps, Instagram and WhatsApp, whose results are now being reported under the segment Family of Apps.
As per the latest quarterly report, Meta Platforms’ Family of Apps had a combined monthly active people (MAP) of 3.65 billion – almost half of the world’s population.
On 28 October last year, Facebook changed its name to Meta Platforms. The new name is considered to be a better reflection of the business’s aim to become a leading player in the up-and-coming metaverse industry. The ticker symbol assigned to the company’s Class A common shares was changed from FB to META.
In 2022, Meta Platforms generated a revenue of over 116 billion U.S. dollars, a slight decrease on the previous year. The majority ofMeta’s profits come from its advertising revenue, which amounted to 113.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2022. Meta Platforms employs over 80,000 people.
The groups share price rose in February when it beat analysts estimates for its Q4 earnings release, with earning per share coming in at$1.76 and revenue at$32.17bnvs $31.53bnexpected, according to Refinitiv.
Facebook biggest shareholders: What is Mark Zuckerberg’s stake?
Who are the stakeholders of Facebook? According to Meta Platform’s latest annual report filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mark Zukerberg owns over 800,000 Class A Shares and over 300,000,000 Class B Shares. The next biggest share holders are the groups CFO, Susan Li andChief Product Officer, Christopher K. Cox.
3,258 stockholders of record held the company’s Class A common stock by the end of December 2022.
Other 5% shareholders inculde, BlackRock, FMR LLC and Vanguard.
As of 31 March 2023, Meta had 2,215,650,705 shares of Class A common stock and 350,578,831 shares of Class B common stock outstanding.
Holders of Class B META shares are entitled to have 10 votes for every share they own while Class A stockholders only have one vote per share. These votes can be cast during any stockholders’ meeting to decide on the company’s affairs.
The annual report also disclosed that there were 2.3 billion Class A common stock of Meta Platforms in circulation by 28 January 2022 along with 412.86 million Class B common stock.
This information is important for Meta Platforms shareholders and prospective investors. All decisions concerning the company’s vision, future and strategy will have to be approved by Zuckerberg, as he holds the majority of the company’s voting power.
According to data compiled by Refinitiv, as of June 2022, other top executive holders of the company’s stock include Michael Todd Schroepfer, David Wehner, David Fischer, Jennifer Newstead and Peter Thiel.
Institutional Facebook shareholders
The list of Facebook major shareholders, as of August 2022, includes some prominent fund management companies. Data from Refinitiv put the list of top Meta Platforms shareholders as: The Vanguard Group, Fidelity Management, BlackRock Institutional, State Street Global and T. Rowe Price Associates.
The Vanguard Group: 7.9% stake
The Vanguard Group is one of the world’s largest asset management firms. The US-based company had total assets under management (AUM) of approximately $7.3trn in 2021. According to Statista, Vanguard's AUM increased more than sevenfold in the decade and a half since 2005.
Many individual and corporate investors may own META stock through one of the investment vehicles that Vanguard offers such as the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO). As of 30 June 2022, Vanguard had more than 30 million investors.
According to Refinitiv’s data as of 13 August, The Vanguard Group held 180 million of META shares, accounting for 7.9% of the company’s stock.
Fidelity Management: 4.9% stake
Fidelity Investments is one of America’s oldest financial services firms. In 1943, Edward C. Johnson II took over the Fidelity Fund, founded in 1930. In 1946, he founded Fidelity Management & Research Company (FMR Co.) to act as investment advisor to the Fund.
In 2022, Fidelity managed $4.2trn in assets for its customers. It’s led by CEO Abigail Johnson, the founder’s granddaughter, who took over from her father in 2014, and has been chairman since 2016.
According to Refinitiv’s data as of 13 August, Fidelity Management held 112 million shares in Meta Platforms, accounting for 4.9% of the company’s stock.
BlackRock: 4.4% stake
Blackrock is another US-based asset management firm that offers access to the stock market via a wide range of passive and actively managed vehicles such as ETFs and mutual funds.
The firm created the iShares family of investment products, including the iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG) and iShares Global Clean Energy ETF (ICLN).
According to Statista, as of the first quarter of 2022, BlackRock had total assets under management (AUM) of around $9.6trn.
According to Refinitiv’s data as of 13 August, BlackRock held 101 million META shares, accounting for 4.4% of the company’s stock.
State Street Global: 4.1% stake
State Street is one the major shareholders of Facebook. Its passively and actively managed investment funds hold META stock. This financial services firm managed $3.47bn of assets as of the second quarter of 2022.
State Street’s stake in Meta Platforms was 4.1%, which corresponds to 92.7 million shares, according to Refinitiv’s data as of 13 August.
T Rowe Price Associates: 3.3% stake
T Rowe Price Associates is a US-based investment management company. The company served investors from 52 countries and had $1.38trn assets under management, as of 31 July 2022.
T Rowe’s stake in Meta Platforms was 3.3%, which corresponds to 74.7 million shares, according to Refinitiv’s data as of 13 August. It closes the list of top five Meta Platforms shareholders.
Whether you’re interested in trading Meta Platforms stock, note that the META price can be volatile. Analysts' predictions can be wrong. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Conduct your own research before making any investment decision. And never trade more than you can afford to lose.
