Facebook

Facebook is a social technology company launched in 2004, now part of Meta's portfolio of platforms . In its early years it was a product without a clear business model — it cycled through banner ads, local ads, and in-game advertising before finding its "money printer" in 2012 with the shift from chronological to algorithmic news feed and the launch of news feed ads, the same year it went public . By 2013 its North American monthly-active-user growth had slowed to nearly zero, marking maturity in its home market, and by 2016 it was losing younger users to Snapchat and Instagram .

The company attracted early backing from DST Global, which counts Facebook among its classic bets alongside Zynga, Snapchat, and Twitter . It also served as a talent hub for Chinese tech investors and founders: Linear Capital's Harry Wang was Facebook's second Chinese engineer and first Chinese R&D manager , while Mindverse founder Tao Fangbo and Dada co-founder Jun Yang also spent time there . In the current AI wave, Facebook is cited as an example of how incumbents with built-in distribution — alongside Apple's iPhone and Google's Chrome — can embed AI features without the customer-acquisition costs that burden startups .