🐂 META — Company Profile (Teaching)¶
Teaching site, not investment advice. Specific market cap / stock price / financial figures change frequently and are intentionally omitted; use the SEC + Yahoo Finance links below to pull real-time data yourself.
📌 Basics¶
| Dimension | Content | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Core business | Facebook + Instagram + WhatsApp + Threads + Messenger social/advertising + Reality Labs (VR/AR) + Llama open-source models | 10-K FY25 |
| Founded / HQ | 2004 / Menlo Park, California, USA | wiki |
| CEO | Mark Zuckerberg (founder, since 2004; dual-class voting control) | DEF 14A |
| Primary listing | NASDAQ: META (Class A, ordinary vote); Class B held by founder with 10:1 super-vote (Zuck controls ~58% voting) | — |
| Fiscal year | Calendar year (Jan 1 – Dec 31) | SEC EDGAR |
💡 Real-time market cap / share price / DAU / ad ARPU: see SEC primary + IR links below.
🏭 Supply Chain Coordinates (Part 1-C6 framework)¶
Upstream (Who META Depends On)¶
| Supplier | What flows | Key dependency |
|---|---|---|
NVDA |
AI training / inference GPUs (Llama training + recommendation + Reels inference) | #3 hyperscaler customer (per Zuck public capex remarks) |
AMD |
MI300/MI350 (secondary, internal deployments) | Diversified |
AVGO + MRVL |
MTIA in-house AI ASIC IP partnership | Critical — long-term cost-down path |
TSM |
MTIA + Quest SoC foundry | Only option |
CRWV |
Neocloud capacity — META-CRWV $21B through 2032/12 (incl. Vera Rubin) | Strategic capacity lock (LEDGER F-033) |
COHR + LITE |
800G/1.6T optical modules (massive AI cluster fabric) | Dual-source |
ARM (via AAPL) |
Quest VR headset SoC IP |
Downstream (Who Depends on META)¶
| Customer | Relationship | Concentration |
|---|---|---|
| Global advertisers (FB + IG + WhatsApp ads) | #2 digital ad platform (after GOOGL) | Highly diversified |
| Global users | DAU across platforms totals 3B+ | Not concentrated |
| Llama open-source ecosystem | Developers / startups use Llama (vs. ClosedAI); META indirectly benefits via ad monetization | No direct billing |
Competitors¶
- Advertising:
GOOGLSearch + YouTube / TikTok / ByteDance (private company, no public ticker) /AMZNretail ads /SNAP/PINS - AI models:
OPENAIGPT /ANTHClaude /GOOGLGemini /XAIGrok /DEEPSEEK - Short video: TikTok (core threat) / YouTube Shorts
- Messaging:
AAPLiMessage +GOOGRCS (but WhatsApp dominates globally) - VR/AR:
AAPLVision Pro (but V2 scrapped post-M5, F-071) /SONYPSVR
💼 Business Model + Value Capture (Part 1-C7 view)¶
- Revenue mix: Family of Apps (ads + WhatsApp + Threads + Messenger commerce) ~99% / Reality Labs (Quest + Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses) < 2% (significant losses ~$15-20B/year)
- Gross margin: 80%+ overall (social ads high margin; Reality Labs drags op margin)
- Pricing power: Auction-based ads (CPM by supply/demand); AI raises ROI which raises ARPU — strong
- Substitution difficulty: high — 3B+ users multi-platform social network effects; Llama open-source strategy builds developer mindshare
(For specific quarterly revenue / DAU / ARPU / Reality Labs losses, see the latest SEC 10-Q.)
🏰 Moat Assessment (Part 3-C2 Buffett 5-step lens)¶
| Type | Strength (0-1) | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Brand | 0.9 | FB / IG / WhatsApp globally recognized (but losing youth share to TikTok) |
| Switching cost | 0.7 | Friend graph lock-in; WhatsApp is global messaging default |
| Network effects | 1.0 | 3B+ users cross-platform — textbook example |
| Scale + cost | 0.8 | Global data + AI recommendation + in-house MTIA + CRWV $21B capacity |
Composite: 3.4 / 4 → extremely strong (social) + unclear AI strategy + Reality Labs cash-burn risk
⚠️ Key Reverse-Trigger Conditions (Part 3-C5 anti-thesis view)¶
- Trigger 1 (quarterly): Llama model quality persistently lags GPT-5 / Claude / Gemini significantly — open-source loses mindshare
- Trigger 2 (annual): Reality Labs losses widen — market rejects Zuck's VR strategy
- Trigger 3 (event): FTC antitrust ruling forces IG or WhatsApp divestiture (filed 2020/12, in progress)
- Trigger 4 (quarterly): TikTok remains legal in US + share continues to rise — Reels counterattack fails
- Trigger 5 (low probability): Apple iOS further tightens ATT framework, IDFA data further restricted — ad ROI declines
🔗 Teaching Cross-References¶
- Part 1-C2 · AI industry map — META spans model (Llama) / infra (MTIA) / app
- Part 1-C4 · How the money flows — META major capex to NVDA + CRWV
- Part 1-C7 · Business model — Social ads 80%+ GM
- Part 1-C8 · Open vs. closed — Llama is the leading open-source force
- Part 2A-C2 · Cultural context — Zuck founder-control case
- Patterns — #1 network effects · #3 regulatory risk
📚 SEC Primary Filings (look it up yourself)¶
- Latest 10-Q (quarterly) — segments + capex
- Latest 10-K (FY25 annual) — full annual data + Reality Labs losses + risk factors
- CoreWeave-Meta $21B announcement — LEDGER F-033
- Investor relations — earnings calendar + historical data
- SEC EDGAR all filings — full filing history
Real-time quote: Yahoo Finance META
Teaching use · numbers change — learn the method, not the specific figures · investment decisions are based on your own research + risk tolerance