Facebook Forked Over $60M to Acquire Trademark Assets from Meta Financial Group

Facebook recently closed a $60 million deal to purchase the trademark assets of Meta Financial Group after the social media giant renamed its company Meta, spokespeople for both companies told Reuters.

The rebranding to the Meta name is meant to reflect Facebook’s focus on the metaverse, which uses a combination of video, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) to enable users to interact live in a shared space across multiple devices.

In a regulatory filing, Meta Financial Group said that a Delaware firm — Beige Key LLC — snapped up the domestic and international rights to the company’s naming assets for $60 million in cash. The owner of Beige Key was not disclosed, Reuters reported.

See also: Facebook Rebrands as Meta in Push to Align With Metaverse

“Beige Key is affiliated with us and we have acquired these trademark assets,” a Meta Platforms spokesperson told Reuters and further confirmed Meta’s participation.

Facebook announced two months ago that its parent was rebranding under the name Meta Platforms. The social media and technology behemoth has sunk a lot of investment dollars into VR and AR and sees the metaverse as the mobile internet’s scion.

Meta Financial Group offered consumer and commercial lending, as well as credit cards and savings via its Meta Bank subsidiary. Meta Financial teams up with financial institutions, FinTechs, and government agencies to offer banking services that buoy financial inclusion.

Meta Financial said in its filing that it had already started looking into its new brand strategy, Reuters reported, but the MetaBank spokesperson declined to offer specifics beyond what was stated in the paperwork.

Read more: Are Things Actually Getting Better at Meta?

Last week, Meta Platforms opened up its previously invite-only Horizon Worlds app, where users of its Quest virtual reality headsets can play games and interact as avatars, to over-18 users in the United States and Canada.

The Meta Platforms spokesperson said negotiations with Meta Financial were already taking place before Facebook’s rebranding was announced.