Mark Zuckerberg

BOUGHT THE COMPETITION, RENAMED THE COMPANY

Zuckerberg built a dorm-room site into a communication empire, then started buying the threats: Instagram for $1 billion, WhatsApp for $19 billion. He renamed the whole thing Meta and bet the company on the metaverse — the virtual-world concept Neal Stephenson coined in Snow Crash — then pivoted to AI with open models, now declaring a "personal superintelligence" era.

1. Feb 2004

   THE DORM ROOM SITE GOES LIVE

   Zuckerberg launched Facebook at Harvard in February 2004 while studying computer science and psychology.

   SOURCES: U.S. SECfirst-party

2. Apr 9, 2012

   FACEBOOK BUYS INSTAGRAM FOR ABOUT $1 BILLION

   Facebook agreed to acquire Instagram for approximately $1 billion in cash and shares, absorbing a fast-growing mobile photo network.

   SOURCES: Metafirst-party

3. Feb 19, 2014

   THEN COMES WHATSAPP: ABOUT $19 BILLION

   Facebook agreed to acquire WhatsApp for roughly $16 billion in cash and stock plus $3 billion in restricted stock units for founders and employees.

   SOURCES: Metafirst-party

4. Oct 28, 2021

   FACEBOOK DITCHES ITS OWN NAME FOR THE METAVERSE

   Zuckerberg renamed the corporate parent Meta and made the metaverse the company’s public organizing vision.

   SOURCES: Metafirst-party

5. Jul 18, 2023

   META OPENS LLAMA 2

   Meta and Microsoft released Llama 2 for research and commercial use, making an open-model strategy central to Meta’s AI position.

   SOURCES: Metafirst-party

6. Apr 18, 2024

   LLAMA 3 MOVES INSIDE THE SOCIAL EMPIRE

   Meta launched a broader Meta AI assistant built with Llama 3 across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and the web.

   SOURCES: Metafirst-party

7. Jul 30, 2025

   ZUCKERBERG DECLARES THE PERSONAL SUPERINTELLIGENCE ERA

   Zuckerberg published Meta’s vision of personal superintelligence, framing advanced AI as a personal technology to be put directly in users’ hands.

   SOURCES: Metafirst-party