Facebook plans to rebrand with a new name, says The Verge

Facebook plans to rebrand the company with a new name as soon as next week. Social media giant wants to be recognized for building the metaverse, The Verge reported on Wednesday, citing an anonymous source with direct knowledge of the matter.

According to the publication, company’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to address the coming name change in Facebook’s annual Connect conference, which will be held on October 28th.

It might signal that Facebook wants to be recognized as more than just a social media enterprise and would be just one of the brands under the parent company along with its other products, such as Oculus, metaverse, WhatsApp, and Instagram.

Facebook’s spokesperson declined The Verge request for comment on the matter.

Recently, the company has been focusing on virtual reality. This Monday, it announced plans to hire 10,000 employees in the European Union over the next five years to help build the so-called metaverse - a nascent online world where people exist and communicate in shared virtual spaces.

In September, Facebook contributed $50 million towards building the metaverse, where companies like Roblox Corp and "Fortnite" maker Epic Games have an early foothold.

The company earlier launched a test of a new virtual-reality remote work app where users of the company's Oculus Quest 2 headsets can hold meetings as avatar versions of themselves.

In September, Facebook introduced a new line of smart glasses called Ray-Ban Stories, which can take photos, shoot 30-second videos, and post them on the owner’s Facebook feed. Priced at $299 and powered by Facebook’s virtual assistant, the web-connected shades can also take phone calls and play music or podcasts.