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Wed, 29 Jul 2026

Wed, 29 Jul 2026 Meta shares fall as frustration grows over AI spending plans

CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the firm intends to sell its AI tools to other companies for the first time.

* Meta's shares fell by as much as 11% after its quarterly earnings report showed revenue grew 28% to $61bn, but profits fell 14% to $6bn.
* The company plans to spend $130-145bn on AI projects this year, up from an earlier estimate of $125bn.
* Meta's free cash flow was the lowest in at least five years, with most of it going towards AI infrastructure spending.
* Analysts are questioning whether Meta's growing list of AI initiatives represents diversification or distraction.
* Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company's AI spending is "accelerating every part of our core business" and that it plans to start selling AI technology to other businesses.
* The company also reported a significant decrease in its cash reserves, with $784m generated in free cash flow for the quarter being largely spent on AI infrastructure.