By Kevin Theissen
Jim Cramer, host of “Mad Money” on CNBC, is credited for creating the popular FAANG acronym to identify some of the largest, most powerful companies in the world: Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google. Recently, changes in those companies are reflected in Cramer’s new acronym: MAMAA, which stands for Microsoft (replacing Netflix in this grouping), Alphabet, Meta, Amazon, and Apple.
The original acronym FANG included Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google. It was then updated to FAANG to include Apple.
Google renamed its parent company Alphabet in 2015, but few outside the media refer to it as such. The same may be true for Facebook’s change to Meta.
So, what’s in a name? A change of name is often a reflection of a new corporate identity, like a statement of priorities. In the case of Meta, it signals a new priority on creating a “metaverse,” a sort of virtual reality space for business and leisure. This appears to be the new central focus of the company, and the name change brings attention to these efforts. It’s possible, too, that such a branding exercise is also intended to protect its various brands, should they ever be in a position where breaking away one or more divisions of the organization is part of its overall corporate strategy.
The Motley Fool extended this concept to include the top nine technology companies and created the acronym, MANAMANA. This includes Microsoft, Apple, Netflix, Amazon, Meta, Adobe, Nvidia and Alphabet. With MANAMANA they sought to capture an enormous spread of the American technology industry.
Whether it’s FANG, FAANG, MAMAA, MANAMANA or something else, the idea is to serve as a proxy to track something larger. FAANG was a great placeholder for American large cap technology for the better part of a decade.
It’s possible that your investment strategy involves one or more of the companies mentioned above either directly or as a holding within an ETF or mutual fund. This article is not recommending any of these holdings, and remember that it is important to know what you own — and why you own it — as part of your portfolio that is designed for your specific situation and investment goals.
Kevin Theissen is the owner of HWC Financial in Ludlow.