Who owns Facebook? Facebook is a publicly-traded company, so a single individual or company doesn’t own it. Among its majority owners is Mark Zuckerberg, who owns the majority shares of the company. Several other individuals and institutions hold essential stakes in the company.
Since its launch in 2004, Facebook has experienced tremendous growth and now boasts more than two billion users worldwide. This success has resulted in an influx of wealth for those involved with the company. While most people may not immediately think of individual shareholders when thinking about how a company this size operates, they do play a major role in Facebook’s ownership and how much control each person or organization holds within the company.
The majority shareholder at Facebook is Mark Zuckerberg, the founder, and CEO of the company. Zuckerberg currently holds 13.6% of the company’s shares, making him the single largest individual shareholder at Facebook. Other top individual shareholders include Dustin Moskovitz, Peter Thiel, Eduardo Saverin, Chris Hughes, Sean Parker, and Li Ka-Shing — all prominent figures in the tech industry who have made notable investments in the social networking giant over time.
Outside investors also play an important role when determining who owns Facebook. The Vanguard Group currently stands as one of the largest institutional shareholders of Facebook’s stock, holding about 7.9% of total shares as recorded in August 2022; it is followed by Fidelity Management & Research Company Ltd., Digital Sky Technologies Limited Partnership (DST), BlackRock, Inc., and State Street Global Advisors LLC. Together, these institutions make up some of what could be considered “Who owns Facebook”
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Top Facebook Individual Shareholders
Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg owns a majority stake in the company, meaning that he has the power to influence how decisions are made at Facebook. His remaining shares have an estimated value of $36 billion, making him among the wealthiest people on earth today.
At the end of December 2021, Meta Platform’s annual report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) showed that 3,258 stockholders held records of the company’s Class A common stock. According to an SEC filing from the same period, Zuckerberg owned a 13.6% stake in the organization, or about 366 million shares.
Despite his influence over Facebook, however, Zuckerberg still plays a significant role in operations. In 2016 alone, he sold more than $1.6 billion worth of shares from his portfolio, indicating that he is actively involved in maintaining and increasing the value of his investments. In addition to this, he also owns Instagram. This app has been owned by Facebook since 2012, which serves as an additional income source for him both directly and indirectly through its association with Facebook.
With such vast resources at his disposal, it’s no surprise that Mark Zuckerberg is often seen as a major influencer within the tech industry. His knowledge and experience continue to shape both how we communicate online and what can be done using technology today. It’s thus safe to say that while Mark Zuckerberg may not technically be in charge anymore when it comes to day-to-day decision-making at Facebook, his presence remains strong — both within the company itself and beyond its walls.
Dustin Moskovitz
Dustin Moskovitz has had a remarkable career, starting from being one of the co-founders of Facebook to now owning 7.6% of the company’s lucrative shares.
Moskovitz attended Harvard University with Zuckerberg and other early members of the original Facebook team. Along with two roommates, he helped create what would later become known as “Thefacebook” in early 2004 before it grew into the social media behemoth that it is today.
After leaving his job at Facebook in 2008, Moskovitz went on to found Asana, a workplace collaboration tool for teams, which later became successful. In 2013, Forbes listed him as one of America’s Youngest Billionaires based on his estimated net worth of over $5 billion following the start-up’s success and his stake in Facebook.
Peter Thiel
Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal and Palantir, has one of the most impressive investment portfolios in tech history due to his stake in Facebook, acquired at a discount when it first went public on the NASDAQ in 2005. In 2020, he sold about 53,000 of his shares, leaving him with 9,948 Facebook shares.
In addition to his successful business career, Thiel is also an active philanthropist who has made generous donations to several organizations and initiatives that focus on finding solutions for mankind’s future. This includes Singularity University and the Seasteading Institute, which both concentrate on researching how technology can help increase well-being and quality of life through innovation.
Apart from his generous contributions to society, Thiel is renowned for his impressive career track record within technology firms and startups specifically related to FinTech (financial technology). Leveraging his experience with investments such as PayPal and Palantir (which provides data analysis tools), he has successfully created wealth by investing wisely in revolutionary technologies and projects consistent with modern trends such as artificial intelligence (AI) development.
Eduardo Saverin
Eduardo Saverin is a Brazilian entrepreneur and investor worth an estimated $11.7 billion, according to Bloomberg. As one of the co-founders of Facebook, his stake in the popular social networking site has been responsible for much of his wealth.
Saverin was born in Brazil and moved to Miami when he was a teenager. With a great interest in business, he went on to attend Harvard University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in economics. During his time at Harvard, Saverin teamed up with fellow classmate Mark Zuckerberg to develop what would become Facebook.
Although Saverin and Zuckerberg launched the company together, disagreements over strategy led to a lawsuit after Saverin felt that some of his stakes had been unfairly diluted by changes that were made without his knowledge or consent. The two eventually settled out of court, with Saverin retaining a 4% share in the firm, which is today valued at over $5 billion. While many people have speculated whether this settlement was fair or not — given how wildly successful the company has become —, it’s clear that this single decision has resulted in far greater wealth than what was originally claimed during negotiations back then.
After settling with Facebook, Saverin relocated to Singapore. He works as an angel investor and venture capitalist focusing on startup investments across Asia and beyond, including companies such as Jumio, Inc., Qwiki, Inc., etc.
Chris Hughes
Chris Hughes is one of the most well-known individual shareholders on Facebook, and his contributions to the social media giant date back to its founding. Along with Mark Zuckerberg, he shared a dorm room at Harvard during the early years of Facebook’s development. After three years of contributing to the development of the platform, Chris left in 2007 to pursue other projects. His expertise with social media proved invaluable when he joined Barack Obama’s campaign team. He was responsible for coordinating grassroots outreach efforts and refining messaging strategies that helped propel Obama toward electoral victory.
Today, Chris owns a 1% stake in Facebook, which gives him a net worth of over half a million dollars. While this percentage may seem small compared to others’ shareholdings, it still is evidence that Chris has played an important role in helping build up Facebook since its early days at Harvard and stands a testament to his success both within and outside of Facebook.
Sean Parker
Sean Parker, an American businessman and philanthropist, is renowned for his contributions to the file-sharing service Napster and his role as the early president of Facebook. This has led to him gaining a 4% stake in Facebook shares, equating to over $5 billion in value. His impressive return on investment reflects the innovative ideas he cultivated while at Facebook’s helm — but this wasn’t his first project. Before joining Facebook, he had already gained experience from working with Friendster, thus enabling him to bring fresh concepts to fruition at the social media giant.
Besides having invested in success stories like Spotify (to which he donated $15 million) and Facebook, Parker manages other investments through his philanthropic company, Airtime Ventures. He holds a stake in Oculus VR and several other companies that have made strides in their respective industries.
Parker has certainly come a long way since founding Napster, going from being the subject of a notorious biopic to owning a sizable part of one of the world’s most prominent social networks. His commitment to investing in innovative companies puts him ahead of other wealthy individuals who are more inclined toward traditional investments.
Li Ka-Shing
Li Ka-Shing is a Hong Kong tycoon who saw the potential of Facebook back in 2008 when the social media platform was valued at $15 billion. Demonstrating his business acumen, Li seized the opportunity to invest $120 million into the company, which secured him 0.8% of company shares. This shrewd move has turned out to be extremely profitable for Li; his initial investment is now worth an estimated value of no less than $1 billion in April 2023.
Born in Chaozhou, Guangdong province, in 1928, Li began working at a young age as part of his family’s business and later founded Cheung Kong Holdings (now CK Hutchison) after moving to Hong Kong in 1951. He quickly rose to prominence as one of Asia’s most successful businessmen and is today considered one of the wealthiest individuals on the planet, having amassed a fortune of well over $28 billion throughout his career.
Top Facebook Institutional Shareholders
As per Refinitiv’s data from 13 August 2022, top Facebook institutional shareholders include The Vanguard Group, BlackRock, State Street Global, etc.
The Vanguard Group
The Vanguard Group is one of the world’s largest asset management firms, with total assets under management (AUM) exceeding $7.3 trillion in 2021. Over the 15 years since 2005, the company’s AUM has grown more than sevenfold, thanks to its diverse array of investment vehicles and its more than 30 million investors. One of the investments that Vanguard offers is its S&P 500 ETF (VOO), which many individuals and corporations use to own a share of META stock. As of August 2022, The Vanguard Group was reported to be holding 180 million shares of Meta, accounting for 7.9% of the tech giant’s stock, according to Refinitiv’s data.
Fidelity Management
Founded in 1946 by Edward C. Johnson II, one of America’s oldest financial services firms, Fidelity Management and Research Company (FMR Co.), has grown to become an investment behemoth under the leadership of Abigail Johnson, the granddaughter of its founder.
With a staggering $4.2 trillion in assets under management as of 2022, Fidelity’s influence is demonstrated through Refinitiv’s data, which shows that it held 112 million shares in Meta Platforms — amounting to 4.9% of the company’s stock.
Digital Sky Technologies
Yuri Milner and his Moscow-based investment firm, Digital Sky Technologies (DST), have been leading players in the tech sphere since 2009. Led by Milner, a physicist, and entrepreneur with a remarkable eye for digital trends, DST has established itself as one of the largest institutional shareholders on Facebook.
DST first invested in Facebook back in 2009, when it bought a $200 million stake in the company. Since then, DST has continued to invest heavily in the internet sector, buying up stakes from companies like Zynga Games and Groupon. These investments have allowed DST to grow its share of Facebook’s shares substantially: at present, DST owns 5.4% of the company*.
This influential position allows DST considerable leverage over major decisions made by the company — like voting rights on key issues such as user privacy or product rollouts — and helps strengthen Yuri Milner’s leadership role at the helm of Facebook’s growing list of institutional shareholders.
*There isn’t much recent news about DST’s current share position on Facebook.
BlackRock
BlackRock is a U.S.-based asset management firm that offers access to the stock market via a wide range of passive and actively managed vehicles, such as ETFs and mutual funds. With total assets under management (AUM) of around $9.6 trillion as of the first quarter of 2022, BlackRock is one of the world’s largest institutional investors across a broad range of asset classes. It is also one of the top Facebook institutional shareholders, holding 101 million META shares, or 4.4%, as per Refinitiv’s data.
State Street Global
State Street Global is a central institutional shareholder of Facebook, with its passively and actively managed investment funds holding META stock as of Q2, 2022. It is estimated that State Street owns 4.1% of Facebook’s total shares, corresponding to 92.7 million shares.
In terms of financial services, State Street is a global leader in asset management and related services, offering investment management, trading, custody, record-keeping, and consulting services across a variety of asset classes. As of April 1, 2023, the firm managed $4.14 billion in assets throughout the world.
State Street is also known for its research-driven insights, which provide the firm with access to up-to-date market data necessary for producing sound investment decisions. This knowledge further enables them to construct customized solutions that are in line with their clients’ needs and objectives, as well as secure long-term investments in various markets globally. Moreover, with its varied portfolio of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), State Street has access to increased buying power and expanding influence within the finance industry, no doubt contributing significantly to its current success, especially as a major investor in Facebook.
Although SSG has more significant resources than most individual investors, it is important to recognize that their investment decisions in assets such as Facebook shares are still subject to market risk and the volatility of macroeconomic factors. As a result, SSG faces a challenge similar to, if not more so than, those investing smaller amounts over time with a focus on lower-risk returns.
Conclusion
As a publicly traded company, Facebook has numerous shareholders. However, the majority of shares are owned and controlled by Zuckerberg himself, allowing him to maintain a strong influence over the direction of Facebook in the years ahead.