Tag: Facebook

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Facebook turns 20 years old

Facebook at 20

Facebook, the social media giant that connects billions of people around the world, celebrated its 20th anniversary on February 4, 2024.

Founded by Mark Zuckerberg and his fellow Harvard students in 2004, Facebook has grown from a college network to a global phenomenon, with over 3 billion monthly users and counting.

Facebook has also changed the way we communicate, share, and connect with each other online, enabling us to keep in touch with friends and family, discover new content and communities, and express ourselves freely.

Controversy

However, Facebook has also faced many controversies and challenges over the years, such as privacy issues, misinformation, child safety, and political scrutiny. Facebook has been accused of violating user data, spreading fake news and hate speech, enabling cyberbullying and online abuse, and influencing elections and public opinion.

How ‘the’ facebook looked 20 years ago

Facebook has also faced competition from other platforms, such as TikTok, Snapchat, and X, as well as regulatory pressure from governments and activists.

Evolving

As Facebook turns 20, it is still evolving and expanding under its parent company Meta, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp. Meta’s vision is to create a metaverse, a virtual reality where people can interact and experience immersive digital worlds. Meta also aims to invest in artificial intelligence, blockchain, and cloud computing, as well as social good initiatives, such as connectivity, education, and health.

Facebook’s future is uncertain, but it is undeniable that it has shaped the history and culture of the internet and the world, for good and bad.

See BIG tech results here as Meta share price gains 20% after positive earnings impress Wall Street.

Mark Zuckerberg is currently the third richest person in the work coming with a wealth of $161 billion. Not a bad income for 20 years’ work.

Whatever happened to myspace?

Meta recent share price 1 year chart

Meta recent share price 1 year chart
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Mark Zuckerberg sold nearly half a billion of Meta stock in November and December 2023

Social Media

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO and cofounder of Meta Platforms Inc., sold some $190 million worth of Meta shares in November 2023, and another $238 million in December 2023. 

These were his first stock sales since 2021, when he sold $2.9 billion worth of shares. 

Meta Platforms is one of the leading social media and technology companies in the world with its flagship platform Facebook.

Its stock price has surged by 166% in 2023, making it one of the best-performing stocks among the so-called ‘Magnificent Seven’ group of tech giants. Meta has also rebranded itself as a metaverse company, aiming to create a virtual reality platform that connects people across its various apps and devices.

Philanthropic – The Giving Pledge

Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, have pledged to donate 99% of their Meta shares to charitable causes during their lifetimes, as part of the Giving Pledge initiative started by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. 

They have also established the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a philanthropic organization that focuses on education, health, science, and justice.

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Nvidia’s stock at record high after Google AI deal

AI microchip

Nvidia shares rose 4.2% Tuesday 29th August 2023 to close at a record high, after the company announced a partnership with Google that could expand distribution of its artificial intelligence technology (AI).

The stock’s bountiful run continued, now up 234% in 2023, making it by far the best performer in the S&P 500. Facebook parent Meta is second in the index, up 148% so far this year.

The record close comes less than a week after the company said quarterly revenue doubled from a year earlier and gave a forecast indicating that sales this period could rise 170% on an annual basis. The day after the better-than-expected earnings report, the stock climbed to a record intraday high of $502.66 before declining later in the afternoon.

Nvidia’s business is booming because its graphics processing (GPU’s) are being gobbled up by cloud companies, government agencies and startups to train and deploy generative AI models like the technology deployed in OpenAI’s ChatGPT as fasta as Nvidia can make them.

NVIDIA stock chart

Nvidia announcment

On Tuesday 29th August 2023, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang appeared at a Google conference to announce an AI agreement between the two companies.

Through the partnership, Google’s cloud customers will have greater access to technology powered by Nvidia’s powerful H100 GPUs.

‘Our expanded collaboration with Google Cloud will help developers accelerate their work with infrastructure, software and services that supercharge energy efficiency and reduce costs’, the Nvidia CEO reportedly said in a blog post.

Nvidia’s GPUs are also available on competing cloud platforms from Amazon and Microsoft.