Facebook

Facebook
Founded	2004
Headquarters	Menlo Park, CA
Key People	Mark Zuckerberg, founder, CEO; David Marcus, Head of Blockchain Initiatives
Employees	10,000+
Products	Social networking website, software app development and e-commerce platform, messaging apps
Twitter	@facebook
StockTwits	FB
LinkedIn	Profile
Website	Facebook Home
Releases	Company News

Facebook is a social networking website. It is also a software platform that enables developers to create apps on it.

Background

Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg while he attended Harvard University in 2004. He was accused of stealing the idea for the social networking site by the Winklevoss twins, who were working on a similar project at the time called ConnectU. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss later sued Zuckerberg. They settled in 2008 for a total of $65 million worth of cash and equity.

On October 28, 2021, Facebook changed its name to Meta Platform, Inc.

Overview

In January 2018, Facebook banned all ads on the website pertaining to "initial coin offerings and cryptocurrency," as well as binary options, in an effort to curb the influence of financial services that were associated with "misleading or deceptive promotional practices." Following the news, prices for bitcoin decreased by 12 percent.

In February 2019, Zuckerberg posted a video interview with Harvard Law professor Jonathan Zittrain on Facebook. In the interview, Zuckerberg discussed the pros and cons of blockchain technology, particularly its relevance to user privacy and security of information. He said that using distributed ledger technology could potentially "empower" individual users while adding accountability to companies that use their information, but that it could raise "the question of consent and how people can really know that they’re giving consent to an institution."

In March 2019, Coindesk reported that Facebook was advertising for 25 blockchain-related positions within the company. All of these were based in the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, California. The position titles included "production manager," "business operations manager," "data scientist," "software engineer," and "growth product manager."

History

Meta Platform, Inc. (formerly Facebook) stock had the single largest one-day crash of any stock in US market history, losing about $251.3 billion in market value on February 3, 2022.

On February 4, 2022, Meta Platform, Inc. had the single largest one-day gain of any stock in US market history. They added about $191 billion in market value.

Products and Services

Facebook allows users to make text posts, share photos and videos, post links to other websites, start groups with other users, and develop and use apps. Facebook's software platform allows app developers to monetize their apps through e-commerce transactions or allowing advertisements in their content.

Libra Stablecoin

On June 18, 2019, Facebook introduced its subsidiary, Calibra, in a company blog post. Calibra also launched its own public website, together providing a de facto official public announcement of Facebook's cryptocurrency, Libra. Facebook said that it is reinventing money with Libra so that it can be used in countries around the world. According to the Calibra website, "It can easily be sent to anyone and exchanged into local currencies," though at its launch the site did not describe how to exchange Libra into local currency. In a press release available on the website, Calibra describes Libra's mission as providing a means for financial services to people around the world who have limited or no access to banking services. Calibra's digital wallet is scheduled to be released in the first half of 2020. The announcement followed a year of speculation about Facebook's intentions to become involved in cryptocurrencies.

In December 2018, Bloomberg had reported that Facebook was in the process of developing a cryptocurrency for WhatsApp, a messaging app for the website that is popular in India. Facebook said the blockchain project was focusing on creating a stablecoin that would allow users to transfer money to other users. At the time of the announcement, the company was in the process of working out its strategy for implementation as well as custody and regulatory issues. The project is being developed by Facebook's blockchain initiatives department, a small team headed by former PayPal president David Marcus, who joined Facebook in 2014.

In April 2019, the New York Times reported that the venture capitalist and chairman of DFJ Athena, Tim Draper, was said to be meeting with representatives from Facebook to discuss Facebook's stablecoin project. DFJ Athena was not announced as a founding member of the Libra Association, which was established to govern the operation and further development of Libra.

In May 2019, the Wall Street Journal reported that Facebook had begun recruiting several financial firms and online merchants for "Project Libra," a company-wide initiative to create a stablecoin that could be used on Facebook's platform to make purchases from other users, as well as throughout the Internet. According to people familiar with the matter, "Project Libra"'s development was largely secretive, and involved investments from Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc., and the payment processor First Data Corp. The WSJ story also mentioned that Facebook was considering paying its users with fractions of the stablecoin as a reward for viewing ads, interacting with content developed by Facebook or third parties, or shopping, similar to a loyalty rewards program. Facebook was seeking up to $1 billion in investments for this project. A source allegedly close to the project confirmed these details with The Block, which published a similar story on the same day.

On May 3, 2019, Coindesk published a story that prominent crypto economist Christian Catalini, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), was on leave from employment at the university and was working on Facebook's stablecoin development team.

In June 2019, J. Christopher Giancarlo said that representatives from Facebook and the CFTC were in “very early stages of conversations” about regulating "GlobalCoin," reportedly the name of Facebook's stablecoin. Later that month, Facebook made a series of announcements. The company hired Ed Bowles, a senior British bank lobbyist, to help the company overcome future regulatory obstacles, especially in Europe. On June 13, the Wall Street Journal reported that Facebook had signed up over a dozen companies to back its new cryptocurrency including Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc., PayPay Holdings Inc., and Uber Technologies Inc. Each of these companies would invest around $10 million to fund the creation and governance of the new cryptocurrency. These entities were among those announced as founding members of the Libra Association which was established to govern Libra.

Chainspace

Cheddar, an online business, technology, and culture news service, reported on February 4, 2019, that Facebook had taken on most of the members of the staff of Chainspace, a London smart contract consulting firm. Chainspace was a start-up created by researchers from University College London. Though the company was still developing its technology, according to its website it is being used on the European project "DECODE", a data security initiative that aimed at giving people greater ownership of their personal data. The Alpha version of this program's technology is being tested in Barcelona and Amsterdam.

Key People

• Mark Zuckerberg - Founder, CEO
• David Marcus - Head of Blockchain Initiatives