Facebook to Meta Calls for Big Tech’s Name Change From FAANG to MAANG

The combined influence of Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google-parent Alphabet is in need of a name change.

By Reuters | Updated: 30 October 2021 16:49 IST

FAANG consists of Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google

Highlights

Facebook was renamed to Meta Platforms on Thursday
MAMATA consists of Microsoft, Apple, Meta, Amazon, Tesla and Alphabet
Shares of Meta Platforms rose about 2 percent in early trading

MAANG? MANGA? Or MAMATA?

Facebook's rebranding to Meta Platforms has launched a search for a new name for the high-flying FAANG group that also includes Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Alphabet.

Facebook on Thursday announced it is now called Meta Platforms as the social media company shifts to building the ambitious "metaverse", a shared virtual environment. The name change comes after a damaging whistleblower report and criticism from lawmakers and regulators over its market power.

Samsung Wins Patent for a Tri-Fold Smartphone With Specialised Barrier Layer for Improved Durability

The most popular suggestion on Twitter for the tech-related heavyweight group was MAANG — where FAANG's "F" is replaced with "M". Some users also rearranged the letters to MANGA, referring to Japanese comic books.

The elite FAANG stocks have a combined market capitalization of about $7.416 trillion (roughly Rs. 5,55,67,013 crore) so far this year, up from about $5.8 trillion (roughly Rs. 4,34,58,556 crore) last year.

Several Twitter users also proposed to reshuffle the group to add Microsoft — which is competing with Apple for the most valuable US-listed company — as well as Tesla, which joined the elite trillion-dollar market value club just this week.

Meta, Formerly Facebook, Could Be Planning to Launch an Apple Watch Rival

With the reshuffle, some users came up with MAMATA — that would drop Netflix, which has the smallest market cap compared with the rest of the group at $299 billion (roughly Rs. 22,40,611 crore), and use an "A" for Alphabet, whose search engine Google gave the FAANGs their "G".

MAMATA — consisting of Microsoft, Apple, Meta, Amazon, Tesla and Alphabet — have a combined market cap of about $10 trillion (roughly Rs. 7,49,36,849 crore). They make up a quarter of the S&P 500's weight, compared with the legacy FAANG group's nearly 20 percent.

"These handful of stocks (FAANG) have reigned for quite some time, and it may be with the beginning of taper, rates slowly rising and inflation... that these tech long duration assets may become less valuable," said Tom Hayes, managing member at Great Hill Capital in New York.

Australia Radio Station Body to Negotiate Content Deal With Facebook, Google

Shares of Meta Platforms rose about 2 percent in early trading and will get a new ticker, MVRS, on December 1.

© Thomson Reuters 2021

How's Nokia brand licensee trying to compete against Realme and Xiaomi in India? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.