5 Near Monopoly Stocks in the US

4. Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 177

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is a Menlo Park, California-based diversified technology company that has significant clout over the social media and messaging industry by owning Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

Originally, Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) developed Facebook internally but established its near monopoly position in the social media industry by acquiring Instagram for $1 billion in 2012 and WhatsApp for $14 billion in 2014. Meta Platform’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, was called in front of Congress in July 2020. Following a five-and-a-half-hour session with him and CEOs of other leading tech companies, the subcommittee concluded that the Big Tech companies had become a monopoly. Some of them may need to be broken up to end their hegemony over their respective industries. Furthermore, proper regulatory measures need to be taken to update the anti-trust laws that were drafted nearly 100 years ago.

Here’s what ClearBridge Investments said about Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in its Q3 2022 investor letter:

“We initiated a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META), in the communication services sector, which operates the Facebook and Instagram social media platforms and is a leading digital advertising provider. We have been carefully watching the company over the last few quarters and believe headwinds from lower monetizing in Facebook and Instagram Reels and pressures from consumer privacy measures are poised to lessen. We believe the company has begun to fully acclimate to this new environment, will achieve greater effectiveness in Reels monetization and find ways to adapt to new privacy standards which will rebound advertising efficiency. Combined with a greater focus on cost control, we believe these initiatives will help contribute to further margin expansion and leave the company well-positioned moving forward.”