Meta Platforms stock rose more than 1% in premarket trading after rising 2% in the previous trading day.
Facebook Inc. re-christened itself Meta Platforms Inc. last week, decoupling its corporate identity from the eponymous social network mired in toxic content, and highlighting a shift to an emerging computing platform focused on virtual reality.
The name change is the most definitive signal so far of the company’s intention to stake its future on a new computing platform -- the metaverse, an idea born in the imaginations of sci-fi novelists. In Meta’s vision, people will congregate and communicate by entering virtual environments, whether they’re talking with colleagues in a boardroom or hanging out with friends in far-flung corners of the world.
The new name won’t affect how the company uses or shares data, and the corporate structure isn’t changing. Apps including the flagship social network, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp will also keep their monikers. The company said its stock will start trading under a new ticker, MVRS, on Dec. 1.