Who owns Messenger?
Messenger is owned by Meta (the United States, NASDAQ: META).[1]
Evidence: Meta Platforms, Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K filed 2026-01-29, SEC EDGAR, 29 January 2026. Verified from filings; last checked .
Key facts
- Current owner
- Meta Platforms, Inc. verified
- Owner HQ
- 🇺🇸 United States, Menlo Park, California
- Origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- Founded
- 2011
- Category
- Internet & digital › Digital services › Email & messaging
- Parent ticker
- NASDAQ: META
- Last verified
- · 1 sources
About Messenger
Messenger was split out of the main Facebook app in 2014, a move that forced hundreds of millions of people to install a second app and was deeply unpopular at the time. It is now among the most used messaging services outside the markets WhatsApp dominates.
What Meta's annual report says about Messenger
Sentences about Messenger from Meta's latest annual filing[1], copied word for word.
Messenger is a simple yet powerful messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls.
For example, the Nevada Attorney General is seeking to enjoin our offering of default end-to-end encryption on Messenger for all Nevada residents under the age of 18.
How often Meta names Messenger in its annual report
A plain count of the times the name appears in the text of each annual report, not counting the start of a sentence. A brand that an owner writes about more is usually one it treats as central. The brand is named less often than it was three years earlier.
Ownership timeline of Messenger
Where Messenger sits in Meta
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Meta ownership tree →
See the full Meta brand portfolio (6) →
Other brands owned by Meta
Meta controls 6 brands on Brandtree, 6 of them in internet & digital.
Also in internet & digital
- Facebook (2004)
- Instagram (2010)
- Meta Quest (2012)
- Threads (2023)
- WhatsApp (2009)
Other brands in email & messaging, and who owns them
The 18 brands in email & messaging on Brandtree belong to 14 owners. The largest is Snap, with 2; Meta has 2.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| Firefox Relay | Mozilla | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Bitmoji | Snap | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Mail.ru Email | VK | 🇷🇺 Russia |
| Gmail | Alphabet | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Yahoo Mail | Apollo | 🇺🇸 United States |
| KakaoTalk | Kakao | 🇰🇷 South Korea |
| LINE | LY Corporation | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| Skype | Microsoft | 🇺🇸 United States |
About the owner: Meta
Meta is a publicly listed company headquartered in Menlo Park, California, United States, founded in 2004. Brandtree records 6 brands under its control, and it is listed as NASDAQ: META.
Meta was called Facebook until 2021, when it renamed itself after the virtual worlds it was then betting on. It owns four of the most used communication services in the world, and American regulators spent years arguing in court that two of those were bought specifically to remove competitors.
🇺🇸 Messenger and other American brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 2,549 brands that began in the United States. 478 of them (19%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country; Messenger is not one of them.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the parent company of Messenger?
The parent company of Messenger is Meta, a publicly listed company headquartered in the United States.
Is Messenger American?
Yes. Messenger originated in the United States in 2011 and its owner, Meta, is also headquartered in the United States.
Is Messenger still owned by Meta?
Yes. As of 9 October 2026, Messenger is still owned by Meta. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (1) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] Meta Platforms, Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K filed 2026-01-29 — SEC EDGAR, SEC Form 10-K, published 29 January 2026; retrieved 16 September 2026.
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