TLDR
- Meta fell roughly 6% after a Financial Times report said the company may sell tens of billions in new stock to fund AI spending
- Meta called the report “pure speculation” and said it has not hired banks for a potential share sale
- Meta’s 2026 capital expenditure guidance sits between $125B–$145B, roughly double its 2025 spend of $72B
- Meta’s long-term debt hit ~$59 billion as of March 31, and the company has paused its share buyback program
- Meta also launched a $115M workforce training program, “America’s Workforce Academy,” to train data center technicians
Meta dropped roughly 6% on Friday, June 5, after the Financial Times reported the company is weighing a sale of new stock — potentially worth tens of billions of dollars — to help pay for its expanding AI infrastructure.
Meta quickly pushed back. A spokesperson called the report “pure speculation,” saying the company has not hired banks and is simply exploring flexible ways to raise capital.
Still, the report landed at a sensitive moment for META stock, which is already down about 11% year to date and trailing its largest tech peers.
The spending behind the story
Meta’s capital expenditure bill is growing fast. The company spent around $72 billion in 2025. Then, in late April alongside its Q1 results, management raised its 2026 spending guidance to between $125 billion and $145 billion — roughly double the prior year.
First-quarter capital expenditures alone came in at about $20 billion, well above free cash flow of $12.4 billion for the same period.
To keep pace, Meta has leaned heavily on debt. Long-term debt stood at roughly $59 billion as of March 31. In May, it completed another $25 billion senior notes offering. The company also paused its share repurchase program, which it had run since 2017.
CFO Susan Li explained the pause on Meta’s Q4 2025 earnings call: “Share repurchase levels will vary from time to time for a lot of reasons, including whether we believe there are areas that have a greater near-term need for capital.”
Q1 2026 revenue rose 33% year over year to $56.3 billion — the fastest growth since 2021. Operating income climbed 30%. The underlying business looks healthy, but spending growth is outpacing revenue growth.
“Our experience so far has been that we have continued to underestimate our compute needs even as we have been ramping capacity,” said Li during the Q1 call.
How it compares to Alphabet
The FT report came just days after Alphabet priced an ~$85 billion equity raise to fund its own AI plans. That deal was reportedly oversubscribed and even upsized. Alphabet’s stock has risen more than 115% over the past year, so it sold from a position of strength.
Meta would be in a different position. Selling stock at current levels means giving up more ownership per dollar raised. A raise in the tens of billions, against Meta’s roughly $1.5 trillion market cap, would likely result in low single-digit dilution for existing holders.
Workforce program
Separately, Meta announced a $115 million investment in a new training program called “America’s Workforce Academy,” aimed at preparing workers for data center technician roles. The program is free to participants and ends in guaranteed job offers with contractors working on Meta’s data center buildout.
The Associated Builders and Contractors group said it expects to train thousands of people over the course of the program. It is part of Meta’s broader pledge to invest $600 billion in U.S. infrastructure and jobs over the next three years.
One example: a planned Meta data center in Texas is projected to employ more than 1,800 workers during peak construction, but only around 100 permanent positions once operational.
Meta’s augmented- and virtual-reality unit continues to post multi-billion dollar quarterly losses, and its AI model releases have faced reported setbacks.
🚨 Our MAY Stock Picks Are Live!
A new month means new opportunities. Our analysts have just released their top stock picks for May, highlighting companies with strong momentum that rank highly on our KO Score algorithm. We’re also now sharing trade ideas for both long-term and short-term investors, giving you more ways to spot potential opportunities in the market.
Sign up to Knockout Stocks today and get 50% off to unlock the full list and see which stocks made the cut.
Use coupon code Special50 for your exclusive discount!
Get 3 Free Stock Ebooks
Discover top-performing stocks in AI, Crypto, and Technology with expert analysis.
- Top 10 AI Stocks - Leading AI companies
- Top 10 Crypto Stocks - Blockchain leaders
- Top 10 Tech Stocks - Tech giants
