MENLO PARK, Calif. — Meta Platforms shares slid more than 5% on Friday after a report that the company is weighing a stock sale of tens of billions of dollars to help fund its artificial-intelligence ambitions — a plan the company quickly waved off as “pure speculation.”

The report came from the Financial Times, which said Friday that Meta is considering raising tens of billions of dollars through an equity offering as it searches for new ways to bankroll its AI buildout, citing three people familiar with the talks. A Meta spokesperson called the report “pure speculation,” and the FT noted the company has not hired banks and may not issue new stock at all.

Investors reacted to a single word: dilution.

When a company sells a large batch of new shares, it splits the existing pie into more slices, lowering the value of each share already held. With Meta’s stock having climbed on AI optimism, the prospect of a massive new share sale flipped the narrative from AI growth to AI funding worry.

The stock fell about 6.6% following the report, according to Reuters. The slide came on a brutal day for technology shares broadly, as a strong jobs report sent the Nasdaq down more than 4% on fears the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates high.

The timing of Meta’s deliberations was no accident.

The talks gained urgency after rival Alphabet raised about $85 billion in an upsized equity offering this week — increased from an initial $80 billion — capitalizing on strong investor demand. The discussions intensified after Alphabet’s deal succeeded, suggesting Meta saw a window to do something similar.

The effort is being run by senior leadership.

Finance chief Susan Li and President Dina Powell McCormick are leading the discussions, and people familiar with the matter said Meta has studied how such a raise could be structured.

The reason Meta is hunting for outside cash is the staggering scale of its AI plans.

The company raised its 2026 capital-expenditure guidance to between $125 billion and $145 billion, up from an earlier range of $115 billion to $135 billion, and the Financial Times reported that spending could climb even higher in 2027.

To put that in perspective, Meta spent $72.2 billion on capital expenditures last year — meaning this year’s plans roughly double that figure.

All that money serves a sweeping ambition.

Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg is pursuing what he calls delivering “personal superintelligence” across Meta’s platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and a growing lineup of AI-powered wearable devices.

Meta’s deliberations reflect a broader shift across Big Tech.

The world’s largest technology companies are increasingly turning to debt and equity markets to fund AI infrastructure, a departure from their long-standing practice of paying for expansion from their own cash flow.

Meta has already tapped outside money in creative ways. Investors including bond giant Pimco and BlackRock participated in a $27.3 billion debt offering tied to Meta’s massive Hyperion data-center project in Louisiana, while investment firm Blue Owl contributed $2.5 billion in equity.

But Friday’s sharp reaction is a warning sign for the entire sector.

Investors have grown increasingly uneasy about how much money Big Tech is pouring into artificial intelligence without clear, immediate returns. Alphabet’s stock, despite a strong year, has fallen for a fourth straight week as investors weigh the costs of massive AI spending.

Meta’s decline suggests that same concern is spreading.

Shareholders want the benefits of artificial intelligence, but they are becoming less enthusiastic about funding those ambitions through new share issuance that dilutes existing ownership.

For now, the plan remains unconfirmed, and Meta insists nothing has been decided.

Whether the company ultimately sells stock, borrows the money, or finds another path, the episode captures one of the defining tensions of the AI era. The infrastructure race has become so expensive that even some of the richest companies in the world are searching for new ways to finance it.

Investors, meanwhile, are increasingly asking a different question: when will all that spending begin to generate returns?

JBizNews Desk — Technology

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