Bayer vs Meta: Founders, CEOs and History
Bayer was founded in 1863 by Friedrich Bayer, Johann Friedrich Weskott and is led by Bill Anderson. Meta was founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum and is led by Mark Zuckerberg.
Company facts
Founders
Bayer
Friedrich Bayer
Bayer was founded in 1863 in Barmen, now part of Wuppertal, Germany, by two men with complementary skills: Friedrich Bayer, a dye merchant, and Johann Friedrich Weskott, a master dyer.
Johann Friedrich Weskott
Johann Friedrich Weskott was a German master dyer who co-founded what became Bayer. In 1863 he and his friend Friedrich Bayer, a dye salesman, formed Friedr. Bayer et comp. in Barmen, now part of Wuppertal, Germany.
Meta
Mark Zuckerberg
Meta possesses arguably the most scrutinized, polarizing, and dramatized founding story of the 21st century, rooted entirely in the exclusive, intensely competitive dormitory culture of Harvard University and driven by an effective, socially awkward computer p…
Eduardo Saverin
Eduardo Saverin was a Facebook co-founder and the company's first chief financial officer, but his long-term story diverged sharply from the company he helped start.
Andrew McCollum
Andrew McCollum co-founded Facebook but left the company relatively early compared with Zuckerberg and Moskovitz. After Facebook, he continued in technology and entrepreneurship, including work connected to education and startup leadership.
Dustin Moskovitz
Dustin Moskovitz co-founded Facebook and served as a key early technical and operational leader before leaving in 2008 to co-found Asana.
Chris Hughes
Chris Hughes co-founded Facebook and later became known for his work in media, politics, and public policy after leaving the company.
CEOs and their tenures
Bayer
- Werner Wenning2002–2010
Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Management
Wenning led Bayer from April 2002 to September 30, 2010. He took over months after the worldwide withdrawal of the cholesterol drug Baycol and spent his early years settling the claims that followed.
Source - Marijn Dekkers2010–2016
Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Management
Dekkers was CEO from October 1, 2010 to April 30, 2016 and the first Bayer chief executive hired from outside the company. He narrowed Bayer to life sciences: in 2014 Bayer bought the consumer care business of Merck and Co.
Source - Werner Baumann2016–2023
Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Management
Baumann became CEO in May 2016 and retired at the end of May 2023 after 35 years at Bayer. His defining decision was the acquisition of Monsanto, completed on June 7, 2018 at USD 128 per share, about USD 63 billion in total.
Source - Bill Anderson2023–present
Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Management
Anderson, a chemical engineer who previously ran Roche's pharmaceuticals division and Genentech, joined Bayer's Board of Management on April 1, 2023 and became CEO on June 1, 2023.
Source
Meta
- Mark Zuckerberg2004–present
Founder, Chairman and CEO
Zuckerberg sets product and capital priorities and controls the majority of shareholder voting power through Class B shares.
Source - Eduardo Saverin2004–2005
Co-Founder
Eduardo Saverin co-founded Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg while at Harvard in 2004, providing the initial seed funding and serving as the company's first CFO and business manager.
Source
Timeline: Bayer and Meta side by side
1863Bayer
Bayer Founded in Barmen, Germany
Friedrich Bayer and Johann Friedrich Weskott entered Friedrich Bayer et. Compagnie into the commercial register in Barmen, Germany, on August 1, 1863, to make synthetic fuchsine and aniline dyes for the textile industry using the new coal-tar chemistry.
1898Bayer
Heroin Marketed as a Cough Suppressant
Bayer began selling diacetylmorphine under the trademark Heroin as a cough suppressant and a supposedly non-addictive substitute for morphine. It stayed in Bayer's range until after World War I, long after its addictiveness was understood.
1899Bayer
Aspirin Registered as a Trademark
The Bayer chemist Felix Hoffmann had synthesized acetylsalicylic acid in a stable, pure form in 1897, and Bayer registered the trademark Aspirin on March 6, 1899. It became the first mass-market synthetic medicine and is still one of the most widely used.
1903Bayer
Veronal Barbiturate Sleep Aid Launched
Bayer licensed diethylbarbituric acid from Emil Fischer and Joseph von Mering and sold it as Veronal, the first barbiturate sleep aid.
1912Bayer
Headquarters Moved to Leverkusen
Under Carl Duisberg, Bayer moved its main chemical plant and head office to Leverkusen on the Rhine, building one of the largest industrial chemical sites in Europe. Leverkusen is still the group headquarters.
1918Bayer
US Assets Confiscated During World War I
Bayer's US assets and trademarks, including the Aspirin trademark, were confiscated by the Alien Property Custodian and sold to Sterling Products. Bayer lost its largest export market and the right to its own name in North America for decades.
1925Bayer
Merger into IG Farben
Bayer merged with BASF, Hoechst, Agfa and other German chemical companies to form IG Farbenindustrie AG, then the largest chemical and pharmaceutical group in the world. IG Farben's role in the Nazi war effort led the Allies to dissolve it after World War II.
1932Bayer
Prontosil Discovered by Gerhard Domagk
Gerhard Domagk, leading a research team in the Bayer laboratories, developed Prontosil, the first sulfonamide antibacterial and the forerunner of modern antibiotics. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1939 for the work.
1951Bayer
Re-established After the IG Farben Dissolution
Bayer was reincorporated as Farbenfabriken Bayer AG in 1951 after the Allied dissolution of IG Farben and rebuilt as an independent chemical and pharmaceutical company during West Germany's post-war recovery.
1994Bayer
US Bayer Trademark Rights Reclaimed
Bayer bought Sterling Winthrop's over-the-counter drug business from SmithKline Beecham for about USD 1 billion, recovering the US and Canadian rights to the Bayer name and the Bayer Cross confiscated in 1918, plus the Aspirin trademark in Canada.
2001Bayer
Baycol Withdrawn Worldwide
Bayer voluntarily withdrew its cholesterol drug Baycol, sold as Lipobay outside the United States, in August 2001 after cases of fatal rhabdomyolysis, particularly at higher doses and in combination with gemfibrozil.
2004Meta
Facebook launches at Harvard
Facebook launched on February 4, 2004, as a real-name student network. The product mattered because it made identity, campus trust and friend connections the core of the service before the company became a public social platform.
2006Bayer
Schering AG Acquired for About EUR 17 Billion
Bayer acquired Schering AG of Berlin for about $19.2 billion (EUR 17 billion) after counter-bidding against a hostile approach from Merck KGaA, adding the Mirena contraceptive franchise, oncology assets and a European pharmaceutical sales force.
2007Meta
Ad platform becomes the business model
Facebook's advertising products turned user attention into a scalable commercial system. The shift mattered because the company could keep the consumer product free while charging marketers for measurable reach, targeting and conversion tools.
2012Meta
Instagram acquisition
Facebook agreed to acquire Instagram for about $1 billion in cash and stock. The deal mattered because Instagram was mobile-native at a moment when Facebook needed to prove it could survive the smartphone shift.
2012Meta
Facebook IPO
Facebook completed its initial public offering in May 2012, raising about $16 billion.
2014Bayer
Merck Consumer Care Acquired for USD 14.2 Billion
Bayer closed the purchase of the consumer care business of Merck and Co. on October 1, 2014 for USD 14.2 billion in cash, adding Claritin, Coppertone and Dr. Scholl's and making Bayer one of the largest non-prescription medicine companies in the world.
2014Meta
WhatsApp acquisition
Facebook announced a deal to acquire WhatsApp, adding a large private messaging network to a company still known mainly for public feeds.
2014Meta
Oculus acquisition
Facebook agreed to acquire Oculus VR for about $2 billion. The deal mattered because it gave the company a hardware and immersive-computing bet years before the Meta rebrand.
2015Bayer
Covestro Spin-off
Bayer listed its materials science division as Covestro through an IPO on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, ending its presence in plastics and polymers and leaving a group focused on pharmaceuticals, consumer health and crop science.
2018Bayer
Monsanto Acquisition Completed for About USD 63 Billion
Bayer completed the acquisition of Monsanto on June 7, 2018, paying USD 128 per share, about USD 63 billion in total, the largest foreign acquisition by a German company.
2020Bayer
USD 10.9 Billion Roundup Settlement
Bayer agreed to pay about USD 10.9 billion to settle roughly 113,000 Roundup claims while continuing to maintain that glyphosate does not cause cancer. The programme did not end the litigation and new claims kept arriving.
2021Meta
Facebook becomes Meta
Facebook changed its corporate name to Meta in 2021 to bring its apps and technologies under a new company brand.
2023Bayer
Bill Anderson Becomes CEO
Werner Baumann retired at the end of May 2023 after 35 years at Bayer. Bill Anderson, previously head of Roche's pharmaceuticals division and of Genentech, joined the Board of Management in April and became CEO on June 1, 2023.
2023Meta
Threads launch
Meta launched Threads in July 2023 and said the app passed 100 million sign-ups in its first five days. The launch mattered because Instagram distribution gave Meta a fast entry into real-time text conversation.
2024Bayer
Dynamic Shared Ownership Rolled Out
Bayer began introducing the Dynamic Shared Ownership operating model, replacing layers of middle management with self-directed teams.
2024Meta
$164.501B revenue
Meta reported $164.501 billion in FY2024 revenue and $62.360 billion in net income. The year mattered because AI-powered ad tools, Reels monetization and expense discipline restored confidence after the 2022 slowdown.
2025Bayer
Nubeqa Approved in the US for Metastatic Castration-Sensitive Prostate Cancer
The FDA approved Nubeqa (darolutamide) in June 2025 for metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer, a third indication, followed by EU authorization in July 2025.
2025Meta
$200.966B Revenue
Meta reported $200.966B in FY2025 revenue, $60.458B in net income, $83.276B in income from operations, and 78,865 employees at year-end.
2026Bayer
Supreme Court Preemption Ruling and Proposed USD 7.25 Billion Roundup Class Settlement
In February 2026 Monsanto proposed a US nationwide class settlement funded by declining annual payments of up to USD 7.25 billion over as long as 21 years, which received preliminary approval in March 2026.
2026Meta
Q2 2026 revenue up 28%
Meta reported Q2 2026 revenue of $60.80B, up 28%, and net income of $15.85B, down 14%, after $2.40B of legal charges and $1.18B of severance from a May 2026 headcount reduction. It narrowed 2026 capex guidance to $130-145B.
Acquisitions
Bayer
- Monsanto Company2018$63B
- Merck Consumer Care2014$14.2B
- Schering AG2006$21.2B
- Sterling Winthrop OTC Business1994$1B
Meta
- Kustomer2022$1B
- CTRL-labs2019$500M
- WhatsApp2014$19B
- Oculus VR2014$2B
- Instagram2012$1B
Questions about Bayer vs Meta
Who is the CEO of Bayer AG and Meta Platforms, Inc.?
Bayer AG is led by Bill Anderson and Meta Platforms, Inc. is led by Mark Zuckerberg. Both serve as the top executive responsible for the company's strategy, operations, and financial performance.
When was Bayer AG founded vs Meta Platforms, Inc.?
Bayer AG was founded in 1863 — 141 years before Meta Platforms, Inc., which was founded in 2004. Bayer AG's longer operating history gives it a deeper track record but also potentially more institutional inertia compared to the younger Meta Platforms, Inc..
How many employees does Bayer AG have compared to Meta Platforms, Inc.?
Bayer AG employs approximately 88,078 people, while Meta Platforms, Inc. employs approximately 75,472. Bayer AG has the larger workforce at 88,078 employees, compared to Meta Platforms, Inc.'s 75,472. A higher headcount does not necessarily imply greater efficiency — it often reflects differences in business model (e.g., manufacturing vs. software).
Where are Bayer AG and Meta Platforms, Inc. headquartered?
Bayer AG is headquartered in Germany and Meta Platforms, Inc. is headquartered in United States. Their different home markets mean they may face different regulatory frameworks, tax regimes, and currency exposure.
Who founded Bayer AG and Meta Platforms, Inc.?
Bayer AG was founded by Friedrich Bayer, Johann Friedrich Weskott. Meta Platforms, Inc. was founded by Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes.
Which company has a longer operating history — Bayer AG or Meta Platforms, Inc.?
Bayer AG has been operating for approximately 163 years, making it the more established of the two companies. Meta Platforms, Inc. has been in operation for around 22 years. A longer operating history often signals greater institutional resilience and brand recognition, though it can also mean slower adaptation to new market conditions.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the Bayer vs Meta overview