The shares of Meta Materials, a Canadian materials technology company, rose by about 30 % after Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg announced Thursday that his company will be called Meta.
While Meta Materials is a science company and has nothing to do with Facebook, experts think the investment surge could be a case of mistaken identity.
This is similar to the rise in shares of Zoom Technologies in April 2019 when investors mistook it for Zoom Video Communications, a video conferencing company.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Thursday that his company will change its name from Facebook to “Meta” as part of a major rebrand.
The new name is an attempt to focus on the metaverse that Facebook says will be the future of social networking.
But it is also likely an attempt to move on from the intense scrutiny and criticism it has faced in recent weeks and years, which has focused on everything from privacy to the damage it is doing to young people.
Zuckerberg said in a “founders letter” that all of the company’s products, including its apps, now share a new vision, to help bring the “metaverse” to life. He added that the new name reflects that.
“From now on, we will be metaverse-first, not Facebook-first. That means that over time you won’t need a Facebook account to use our other services,” said Zuckerberg. “As our new brand starts showing up in our products, I hope people around the world come to know the Meta brand and the future we stand for.”
Along with a new name, the company has a new logo as well: the “Meta symbol.” The blue image appears to be a play on the infinity symbol.
“The Meta symbol was designed to dynamically live in the metaverse — where you can move through it and around it,” explained the company. “It can take on infinite textures, colors, and movement, capturing the creativity and imagination of a 3D world. It was also important that the symbol takes on a blue gradient and pull in the color of our core products, connecting our future to our company’s origins.”
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