Meta cash flow craters as Zuckerberg’s AI spending spree accelerates

Meta Platforms reported a precipitous 91 per cent drop in second-quarter free cash flow on July 29, underscoring the financial strain from the social media giant’s costly artificial intelligence build-out despite an uncertain payoff.

The Facebook parent company reported free cash flow of US$784 million (S$1.01 billion) in the second quarter ended June 30, down from US$8.55 billion a year earlier, sending its shares down 10 per cent in extended trading.

Meta’s cash flow wipe-out echoed Alphabet’s, which last week said it was cash flow negative for the first time as it spent US$5.9 billion in the second quarter. The rate of spending stunned even the most bullish Wall Street investors, driving Alphabet’s stock down.

Meta’s revenue jumped 28 per cent to US$60.8 billion in the quarter, the quickest pace of growth since the fourth quarter of 2021, barring the first quarter of 2026.

“We expect that a significant portion of our compute is going to go towards training our models, growing our core business and delivering personal agents and new products, but we also expect to grow a large business serving large customers as well,” chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said on an earnings call.

Meta currently has 32 data centres in operation or under construction worldwide, with 28 located in the US.

The company also raised the lower end of its capital expenditure outlook. It now expects 2026 capital expenditure to be between US$130 billion and US$145 billion, compared with its prior forecast of US$125 billion to US$145 billion.

At the beginning of 2026, it forecasted capital expenditure between US$115 billion and US$135 billion.

The feverish spending by Big Tech is expected to reach well above US$700 billion in 2026, primarily on AI, while Morgan Stanley has pegged the estimated spend at more than US$1 trillion in 2027.

Thomas Monteiro, senior analyst at Investing.com, said: “Meta’s report echoes what we saw from Alphabet and Tesla last week: strong revenue growth, but even faster growth in spending. The market is repricing a deteriorating free cash flow outlook, and in an environment of higher capital costs, that does not sit well.”

Luke Stillman, a managing director at research firm Madison and Wall, said: “Meta’s underlying ad business that’s financing everything, though, is still performing well and is our main focus.”

Meta’s legal troubles

While investors are scrutinising Meta’s AI spending, it faces legal risks related to its core business. The company said in a court filing in July that four states were seeking US$1.4 trillion in penalties over accusations that it designed its Facebook ‌and Instagram platforms to addict young users and misled the public about their safety.

Meta warned in April that legal and regulatory blowback in the European Union and the US over youth social media issues “could significantly impact” its business and financial results.

The company said on July 29 that it continued to see this scrutiny. On the call, Meta chief financial officer Susan Li said second-quarter operating income would have increased 9 per cent year over year without the company’s legal charges and severance expenses.

Operating income actually fell 8 per cent.

“We continue to see scrutiny on youth-related issues in several markets and have a number of youth-related trials scheduled for this year in the US, which may ultimately result in a material loss,” she said in the company’s earnings statement. REUTERS