Meta turns to a nearly $100bn share sale to help fund its AI build-out

Meta is planning a share sale worth nearly $100 billion as it faces the cost of its AI expansion. The proposed financing includes up to $60 billion in a new class of non-voting shares, according to Yahoo Finance, giving investors a concrete measure of how the infrastructure push is being funded.

Meta AI Watch analysis

What happened

Yahoo Finance says Meta priced $25 billion in ordinary shares at $625 each, below the previous Friday’s closing price. It also issued $12.5 billion in preferred shares, which pay 6.5% and convert into ordinary shares in 2029. The remaining $60 billion has not yet been sold: Meta plans to offer that non-voting stock gradually, starting next year.

The report says Meta spent almost $34 billion on buildings and equipment in the latest quarter, mostly for AI, while bringing in almost $33 billion in cash from its business. It describes the offering as a turning point in how large technology companies pay for AI.

Why it matters

The figures put the financing question alongside the familiar talk of bigger models and data centres. Meta is asking investors to help fund its plans at a time when its recent spending on buildings and equipment, mostly for AI, exceeded the cash its business generated.

The share structure also matters. The proposed non-voting stock lets Meta seek more capital without giving buyers a say in company decisions. Yahoo Finance says that structure grew out of a board dispute involving Mark Zuckerberg; the report describes a filing as its source for that account.

Our read

AI infrastructure is not paid for with ambition and a nice keynote. Meta’s offering shows the scale of the bill, and how the company proposes to raise it while retaining voting control. But this is a financing plan, not evidence that the spending will earn a return.

What to watch

• How much of the planned $60 billion in non-voting stock Meta sells, and when.
• Whether its AI investment produces returns that justify raising this much capital.
• Whether other technology companies turn to investors to help fund their own AI expansion.

Discussion spark: Should Meta’s AI build-out be funded by selling more shares, even if the new investors have no vote, or should the company scale its plans to fit the cash its business generates?

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