"Of everything Meta said this quarter, the real story wasn't the revenue beat or the one-time tax charge that crushed reported net income. It was this: the company just committed to spending $70-72 billion on capital expenditures in 2025. That's a 93% increase from 2024's $37.3 billion. For context, Meta spent $31.4 billion on capex in 2022. The company is nearly doubling its infrastructure investment in a single year."
"Meta's balance sheet is fortress-like. Operating cash flow hit $91.3 billion in 2024. The company can absorb this spending without debt. Profit margins remain exceptional at 40% company-wide and 43% operating margin. That's not changing. But free cash flow is about to compress dramatically. In 2024, after capex, Meta had roughly $54 billion in free cash flow. In 2025, with $70-72 billion in capex, that number drops to around $20 billion. The company is choosing to reinvest nearly all its cash"
Meta committed $70-72 billion in capital expenditures for 2025, a 93% increase from 2024's $37.3 billion and nearly double 2022's $31.4 billion. Leadership frames the spending as an effort to build AI infrastructure at unprecedented scale, shifting strategic emphasis from ads to computing power. Q3 revenue reached $51.24 billion and operating income rose 18.36% year-over-year to $20.54 billion. Daily active people hit 3.54 billion, up 8% annually, and the ad business remains effective. Capex as a share of revenue will rise to roughly 36-38% in 2025, the highest ratio in company history. Operating cash flow was $91.3 billion in 2024 and profit margins remain around 40% overall and 43% operating. Free cash flow after capex falls from about $54 billion in 2024 to roughly $20 billion in 2025 as the company reinvests most of its cash into infrastructure.
Read at 24/7 Wall St.
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