The price of Meta (former Facebook) shares traded on the Nasdaq stock exchange fluctuated significantly but increased overall during the period from May 2012 to January 2025. After peaking at 379.38 U.S. dollars per share in August 2021, the price of Meta shares started to fluctuate and exceeded its previous peak in 2025. The share price stood at 689.18 U.S. dollars as of the end of January 2025. Substantial fluctuations in the last few years Meta's stock prices have fluctuated particularly after the rebranding announcement in late 2021. Following the announcement and through 2022, Meta's revenue remained rather stagnant, and its net income decreased considerably. Moreover, the tech giant announced one of the industry's largest layoffs in late 2022. As a result, the share price hit a low of 93.16 U.S. dollars in October 2022, the lowest value observed since 2016. However, Meta's share price has been steadily recovering since then. Shift in strategy for the world’s first social network Meta has shifted its focus to the metaverse, virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR), with the rebranding in late 2021. As a result, Reality Labs was established as a dedicated business and research unit to focus on developing metaverse and AR/VR technologies. However, as of early 2023, Meta still relies mainly on advertising and its Family of Apps to generate most of its revenue, despite having made significant investments in virtual reality. Reality Labs generated 2.1 billion U.S. dollars in revenue in 2024 and has been consistently incurring operating losses since 2019.

The largest social media IPO seen in the last 15 years was Facebook, which went public in May 2012 with a valuation of 104 billion U.S. dollars. Snapchat ranked second, with a valuation of 24 billion U.S. dollars in March 2017. Twitter – later known as X after its 2023 acquisition and subsequent delisting – went public in with a valuation of 18 billion U.S. dollars. Former U.S president Trump's social media app Truth Social went public on March 26, 2024, after merging with Digital World Acquisition Corp.

Digital IPOs in the U.S. The year 2021 was characterized by the highest number of IPOs recorded in the U.S. since 2000, with over a thousand companies entering the public market. During the first years of the COVD-19 pandemic, the digital and tech sectors enjoyed stellar development thanks to the increase in usage and inflated adoption trends of digital solutions among global users. In comparison, 2022 was characterized by an unusually quiet public market. Snap Inc and Meta, as well as other social media platforms, reported a loss in expected revenue driven by a slowing advertising spending trend.

While social video and streaming platform Rumble filed to go public via SPAC merger in September 2022, market volatility dragged IPO plans for others. At the end of 2023, the market appeared to be in recovery for digital companies. Fast-fashion brand Shein entered the U.S. public market in September, followed by Instacart in November.

Reddit’s IPO Reddit's entrance into the public market is expected to be the largest social media IPO since 2019, when Pinterest became a public company with a valuation of 10 billion U.S. dollars. Reddit, which is expected to go public in March 2024, is reportedly seeking a valuation of 6.5 million U.S. dollars. The company had previously reached a valuation of 10 billion U.S. dollars, after securing 410 million U.S. dollars in its Series F funding in August 2021. In February 2024, Reddit gave potential investors a peek into its financials, by releasing the company’s S1 registration statement: the company was not yet profitable in 2023, with a negative EBITDA of 70 billion U.S. dollars. Despite not having released a planned price for its stocks, Reddit invited some of its users to pre-register and grab the possibility of buying into Reddit.