Finance Monthly - December 2021

METAVERSE Should You in the On 28 October, Facebook announced that it would be changing its corporate name to Meta as part of a major rebranding. CEO Mark Zuckerberg asserted that the need for change stemmed from the existing brand not being able to “represent everything that we’re doing today, let alone in the future” with the company developing plans for the “metaverse”. “Over time, I hope that we are seen as a metaverse company and I want to anchor our work and our identity on what we’re building towards,” Zuckerberg told a virtual conference. “We’re now look- ing at and reporting on our business as two different segments, one for our family of apps, and one for our work on future plat- forms. And as part of this, it is time for us to adopt a new compa- ny brand to encompass everything that we do, to reflect who we are and what we hope to build.” Following Zuckerberg’s announcement, “metaverse” has become an even bigger buzzword in tech, with plenty of investors now wanting a slice of it. But what exactly is the metaverse? And should you also consider investing in it? Invest Rachel Makinson Finance Monthly. Inve s tmen t 35