The tech giant, Facebook, is planning to announce a rebrand that may result in changing its company name, according to The Verge.
This move, as per the sources, would see Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus, put under an umbrella company with a new name.
It would be very similar to the structure of Alphabet, the parent company of Google.
The report says that Facebook’s founder and chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, plans to discuss the rebrand at the company’s Connect conference on Oct. 28.
The rebranding follows explosive testimony earlier this month from a whistleblower urging lawmakers to regulate Facebook.
Former Facebook project manager Frances Haugen told a Senate subcommittee the social network “put their astronomical profits before people.”
Haugen has been behind the leak of a number of documents to the Wall Street Journal.
This includes showing internal research revealing that 30% of teenage girls felt Instagram made dissatisfaction with their body worse.
In response, Zuckerberg wrote in a blog post:
“At the heart of these accusations is this idea that we prioritize profit over safety and wellbeing. That’s just not true.”
According to the news report, the rebrand is aimed at reflecting Facebook’s push into the metaverse.
The idea of Metaverse was first coined in a dystopian novel and is very popular in Silicon Valley.
Metaverse is a new way to connect people online leveraging augmented and virtual reality.
The Verge reports that the new name for the holding company could be linked to Horizon.
This word has been used in at least two virtual reality products that the company is developing.
Facebook is developing a social virtual reality platform called Horizon Worlds as well as a virtual-reality meeting service called Horizon Workrooms.
Shankha Basu, associate professor of marketing at University of Leeds, told Reuters:
“Having a different parent brand will guard against having this negative association transferred into a new brand, or other brands that are in the portfolio.”
Mark Zuckerberg launched his company as Facebook 17 years ago.
Today it has just under 2.8 billion daily users and its shares have performed strongly this year, up 25% since January.
Earlier this month, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram went offline for five hours after routine maintenance went wrong.
In a statement, Facebook said, “it does not comment on rumors or speculation.”
