Last Thursday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg gave a presentation that felt straight out

of science fiction, who was giving the keynote address at the company's annual developer

conference called Facebook Connect.

Hey, and welcome to Connect.

Today we're going to talk about the metaverse.

The keynote was streamed online, and it started out with Zuckerberg sitting in what appeared

to be his living room, then with the twirl of the cameras and sound effects.

He teleported to a virtual world, where he went surfing in the ocean and played cards

in outer space with his friends, one of whom was dressed as a big red robot.

But this presentation was more than sci-fi fantasy.

Zuckerberg was unveiling a new direction for Facebook.

It would be based on a futuristic concept called the metaverse.

Zuckerberg said he was so committed to refocusing his company around the metaverse, that Facebook

would be changing its name to reflect it.

I am proud to announce that starting today, our company is now meta.

From now on, we're going to be metaverse first, not Facebook first.

This shift away from Facebook, its biggest brand, is a gamble for the trillion dollar company.

To change the name of your company for a concept that hasn't been proven is a pretty radical

step.

Welcome to the journal, our show about money, business, and power.

I'm Ryan Kiddison.

It's Tuesday, November 2nd.

...