Who Owns Facebook?

Facebook is owned by Meta Platforms, Inc. — which was itself called Facebook, Inc. until October 2021. The rename changed the company’s name, not the company: same legal entity, same Delaware registration, same controller. Mark Zuckerberg holds roughly 61% of the voting power on about 13% of the economics through Class B shares carrying ten votes each. Ownership verified 6 September 2026.

Who owns the Facebook brand?

Facebook is now a product rather than a company. It is one of several services operated by Meta Platforms, Inc. (Delaware registration 3835815), alongside Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger and Threads.

In the UK the group entity is Meta Platforms Technologies UK Ltd (13792358), whose registered person with significant control is Meta Platforms, Inc., holding 75% or more of shares and voting rights.

Parent company and ultimate owner

Meta Platforms, Inc. is the parent and the ultimate owner. Nothing sits above it, and it is not a subsidiary of any group.

The point that trips people up is the direction of the 2021 rename. Meta did not acquire Facebook — Facebook renamed itself Meta. Filings from before October 2021 naming Facebook, Inc. and filings after naming Meta Platforms, Inc. refer to the same entity with the same registration number.

Control sits with Zuckerberg through share class rather than share count: about 99.7% of the Class B stock, ten votes per share, producing roughly 61% of voting power on around 13% of the economics. No combination of other shareholders can outvote him.

Brand owner vs operating company

Facebook the product, Meta the company. The distinction became necessary in 2021 precisely because one product’s name had come to stand for a group that also owned Instagram and WhatsApp.

For ownership questions the answer is always the company: Meta Platforms, Inc. owns the Facebook service, the trade marks and the platform. Facebook has no separate shareholders, no separate board, and cannot be bought or sold independently of Meta.

When the ownership changed

Facebook was founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes and Andrew McCollum. Early investment came from Peter Thiel in 2004 and Accel in 2005, and Microsoft took a small stake in 2007.

The company floated in May 2012 with dual-class shares already in place, which is why the flotation did not dilute Zuckerberg’s control. It acquired Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014, and renamed itself Meta Platforms in October 2021.

Ownership of Facebook has therefore never actually changed. What changed was the name of the company that has owned it since the beginning.

Related brands in the same group

Meta owns Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, Threads and Reality Labs including Oculus. Instagram and WhatsApp came in by acquisition and kept their own names and identities, which is the main reason users do not realise the services share an owner.

All sit under the same parent and the same voting control described above.

Sources and verification

The UK relationship comes from the Companies House PSC register for Meta Platforms Technologies UK Ltd (13792358). Several older Meta UK entities have been dissolved, so a name search returns a mix of live and dead companies.

Meta’s own ownership is not on any UK register. The authoritative source is its SEC filings, and the voting and economic percentages above come from 2026 proxy disclosures — figures that move as shares are sold, converted or granted. Companies House does not verify most filed information.