Meta Platforms, Inc., headquartered in Menlo Park, California, is an American multinational technology company and is one of the Big Tech companies. Meta owns and operates several prominent social media platforms and communication services, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Threads. The company also operates an advertising network for its own sites and third parties; as of 2023, advertising accounted for 97.8% of its total revenue. The company was established in 2004 as TheFacebook, Inc., and was renamed Facebook, Inc. in 2005. In 2021, it rebranded as Meta Platforms, Inc. to reflect a strategic shift toward developing the metaverse—an interconnected digital ecosystem spanning virtual and augmented reality technologies. Meta is ranked 17th on the Fortune 500 and 16th on the Forbes Global 2000. As of 2022, it was the world's third-largest spender on research and development, with R&D expenses totaling US$35.3 billion.