Since its establishment, Meta has not hesitated to acquire numerous companies. From WhatsApp and Instagram to smaller, less well-known firms that are now fully incorporated, the social media giant has invested a significant amount in purchasing competitors. More than 100 acquisitions have taken place, with owner Mark Zuckerberg stating that the goal has always been to obtain the talent, not the company itself.
In 2021, Meta rebranded from Facebook, signaling a new chapter. A growing emphasis on emerging technologies, such as virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI), has led to significant financial commitments. It is expected that in May 2026, the company will reduce its workforce by 8,000 employees. This is partly due to a higher budget allocation, reaching $145 billion. In 2025, the company invested $72.2 billion as the competition in AI intensified.
By 2026, the company employs approximately 80,000 people throughout all its affiliated businesses and departments. Meta has evolved into much more than the social media venture it originally was.
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In addition to WhatsApp, it's fair to say that Instagram is among Meta's most significant acquisitions. The image-focused social media platform has grown to have approximately 3 billion users and has become a popular choice for many. It now features vertical video through Reels, designed to rival TikTok, and Threads, introduced during Elon Musk's chaotic acquisition of Twitter, which is now known as X.
Meta acquired Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion. This was Meta's biggest acquisition since purchasing Snaptu, a service that hosted applications for internet-enabled phones, for $70 million in 2011. Instagram has since become a key part of the social media landscape and can be seamlessly linked with Facebook at the user's discretion.
Instagram has also become a hub for conservative features. Similar to Reels and Threads, which were introduced to retain users within the platform, Instagram offers stories and filters reminiscent of Snapchat. Interestingly, it is most widely used in India, boasting 414 million users as of 2025, with the U.S. following closely behind with 172 million users.
The leading multi-platform messaging application in much of Europe, India, and the United Kingdom, WhatsApp boasts more than 3 billion users, even though it is prohibited in nations such as Russia and China. For numerous individuals around the globe, it has evolved into their main messaging platform, offering a completely free service that also includes end-to-end encryption for enhanced safety.
WhatsApp was introduced in 2009, developed by Brian Acton and Jan Koum. The application experienced rapid growth even though the initial version was not very stable. By 2013, just a year before Meta acquired the company, it had around 400 million monthly users. In 2014, Meta acquired the company for an impressive $19 billion. This deal made many individuals extremely wealthy, with a venture capital firm seeing a return on investment of approximately 5000%.
The application continues to perform exceptionally well, even as the rest of Meta faces somewhat poor conditions. In May 2026, it introduced its second subscription service, WhatsApp Plus, offering enhanced customization features to the app, ontop of the secret features WhatsApp has hidden away. It initially charged a $1 subscription fee in 2013, which was eliminated in 2016.
Oculus VR (formerly Reality Labs)
Is it Meta's biggest and most significant mistake? Perhaps, as Reality Labs has now been the focus of billions of dollars spent on products that never truly gained traction. Originally called Oculus VR, founded by Palmer Luckey, itreleased the Oculus Rift in 2016The headset marked a breakthrough for the virtual reality industry, with later models enhancing the technology.
Oculus was acquired for $2 billion in 2014, and Meta fully committed to virtual reality in 2021. Following the success of the Oculus Quest in 2019, the company shifted its focus toward becoming a "metaverse" enterprise. In 2021, Oculus was rebranded as Reality Labs as part of Facebook's transition to Meta. Since then, the division has suffered significant financial losses, with an overall loss of $80 billion reported since 2020.
Meta has laid off 10% of the employees in the division, and also closed down multiple game studios it acquired, such as Ready at Dawn and Twisted Pixel Games. Zuckerberg, who appears to have lost interest in this sector that he previously shifted the entire company toward, is now concentrating on artificial intelligence.
Beluga (now Facebook Messenger)
A commonly overlooked detail is that Meta never actually developed its own chat feature for Facebook. Beluga was a group messaging application designed for mobile devices, offering image sharing between iOS and Android platforms. In 2011, Meta acquired Beluga for an undisclosed amount. By 2026, none of the original Beluga team members remain with the company, as all had departed by 2018.
Facebook Messenger has played a crucial role in shaping the Facebook social platform. Before Messenger existed, private communication on Facebook was primarily handled through direct messages, much like traditional forums. By rebranding Beluga as Facebook Messenger, the company finally launched its instant messaging application.
Messenger remains a key component of Facebook, with the application functioning separately from the primary Facebook app. While its number of monthly active users is lower than Facebook's, it still has approximately one billion users as of 2026. Nevertheless, even though Meta is known for collecting data, it offers end-to-end encryption for messages within Messenger.
Moltbook
Meta's newest acquisition, Moltbook, is an AI-powered social media platform. Tailored to receive input from agents as if they were contributing to a discussion forum, Meta acquired it for an undisclosed price. Similar to many of Meta's AI initiatives, there is no clear information about the company's plans for Moltbook, aside from enabling "new ways for AI agents to assist people and businesses."
Moltbook first gained popularity with the rise of OpenClaw, a comprehensive AI assistant. This tool can generate an "agent," which is a method to "focus" an AI model on particular tasks. For example, OpenClaw can be instructed to communicate via WhatsApp, or to have complete control over the computer it's installed on. OpenClaw, along with other non-OpenClaw agents, can be directed to post on Moltbook as if they were genuine.
Moltbook currently states that it has more than 200,000 human-verified agents on its site, along with almost 3 million in total. The platform has been very active, with somespotting plots for singularity. However, reports from sources regarding the platform have highlighted vulnerabilities in how easily it can be manipulated, withCNBC, The Verge, and MIT Technology Reviewcasting doubt on the possibility of it being fully controlled by an AI system.Wiredalso demonstrated how simple it was to alter the platform's material.
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