Facebook belongs to Meta Platforms. That company has multiple shareholders: people and organizations that own a portion of Meta. Mark Zuckerberg is therefore not the only owner. Because he holds shares with extra voting rights, he does have the deciding vote. It is therefore important to distinguish between who owns Facebook and who can make important decisions.
Below, you will learn how this works and what to look for when you see news about Facebook or Meta.
Who is the owner of Facebook?
The company behind Facebook is Meta Platforms. To understand who holds the power there, you also need to look at the shareholders and their votes. These three terms help explain it:
| Term | What does it mean? | How does it apply to Facebook? |
|---|---|---|
| Owner | The company that Facebook belongs to. | Facebook is part of Meta Platforms. |
| Shareholders | People and organizations that own a portion of the company. | Meta has multiple shareholders, including Zuckerberg. |
| Voting rights | The right to vote on important decisions. | Zuckerberg holds shares with extra votes. As a result, he has significant control. |
A shareholder owns a portion of Meta, not a separate piece of the Facebook app. Shares also do not let you change features or delete posts yourself.
Why is Facebook part of Meta?
In October 2021, the company announced the official announcement of Meta its new name. According to that announcement, the company structure did not change.
Facebook was therefore not sold to a new owner. The company received a different name, but the service continued to be called Facebook.
Think of it as a company changing its name while the name on one of its stores stays the same. That is how Facebook and Meta can exist alongside each other.
Curious about the beginning of Facebook? Then read when Facebook was founded. The explanation of when Facebook bought Instagram covers that separate acquisition.
Why does Zuckerberg have so much control over Facebook?
At Meta, not every share provides the same number of votes. Zuckerberg holds shares with extra voting rights. As a result, he has more influence than you would expect based solely on his ownership stake.
Ownership and voting rights are therefore two different things. Ownership concerns how much of the company someone has. Voting rights determine how many votes someone can cast on important decisions.
A hypothetical example: two people each own half of a company’s shares. One person’s shares provide more votes than the other person’s. They own equal amounts, but they do not have an equal say.
You can read more about this in LegalClarity’s explanation of Facebook, shareholders and control. Do you want to know the exact percentages at this time? You need recent official company documents for that.
Who are Meta’s other shareholders?
Besides Zuckerberg, other people and investment funds can also own shares in Meta. Meta is publicly traded, meaning that you can buy and sell shares in the company on the stock exchange.
An investment fund collects money from multiple investors and uses it to buy shares, for example. If a large fund appears on a shareholder list, it often represents money from many different people.
The number of shares someone owns can change. Without a date, a list does not tell you who the largest shareholders are now. When reviewing such a list, look at three things:
- The date: when is the information from?
- The percentage: does it refer to the portion of the company someone owns, or to the portion of the votes?
- The name: is it one person or a fund that manages money for others?
Could someone else buy Facebook?
In theory, Meta could sell a business unit such as Facebook. But buying shares in Meta is not the same as acquiring Facebook.
A sale would require, among other things, agreements and the necessary decisions within the company. Regulators might also need to provide approval. For example, they check whether enough competition would remain after an acquisition.
Even owning a very large number of ordinary shares does not automatically give you control over Meta. Shares with extra voting rights also matter. Whether a particular acquisition is possible depends on the conditions and rules at that time.
What does Facebook’s owner mean for you?
As a user in the Netherlands or Belgium, this distinction mainly helps you understand the news. A report about Meta may concern the entire company. That does not automatically mean that anything changes about your Facebook profile.
Do you use Facebook for your own photos, videos or advertisements? When a change is announced, look at three things:
- Does the change concern Facebook?
- Does it apply to your country?
- When does the change take effect?
The owner’s name alone says nothing about how many people will see your next post.
Do you want to know which company is responsible for your data or agreement? Check the company name in the terms that apply to your account. It does not have to be the same name as the company that owns Facebook.
Do you mean by your question that someone else has access to your account? Information about the owner will not help you recover your account. For that, read what you can do if your Facebook account has been hacked. If you also publish your own content, our Facebook services includes packages for followers and page likes. The product pages show the available quantities and prices.
