Rumor: Meta buys Scale AI for $14.5B
Social posts are circulating that Meta acquired Scale AI for $14.5B as part of a broader $135B 2026 AI capex push — the report is unconfirmed but picked up velocity on X. If verified, it would be a major strategic exit tying data labeling and model ops into Meta's stack. (x.com)
Multiple outlets report Meta paid roughly $14.3–14.8 billion for a 49% stake in Scale AI, a deal that values Scale at just over $29 billion. (bloomberg.com) Scale’s announcement says proceeds will be distributed to existing shareholders and employees while Scale remains an independent company, and Scale founder Alexandr Wang will join Meta’s AI efforts as part of the arrangement. (scale.com) The transaction prompted immediate customer churn: Reuters-sourced reports said Google — Scale’s largest customer, representing about $200 million in planned work this year — planned to cut ties, and TechCrunch reported OpenAI also dropped Scale as a supplier after the deal. (cnbc.com) Competition and policy voices flagged the structure as a potential dodge of merger scrutiny, with Axios noting antitrust alarms and advocacy groups urging the FTC to investigate the competitive impact of Meta’s minority, non‑voting stake. (axios.com) The investment was announced in mid‑June 2025 (Scale’s blog post is dated June 13, 2025), coming as Meta has pushed 2026 capex guidance into a $115–$135 billion range to fund an expanded “Superintelligence” buildout. (scale.com) Following the Scale transaction, Meta has also locked large external compute commitments — including reports of multi‑billion dollar deals to secure cloud capacity (a recent Nebius arrangement is reported as up to $27 billion over five years) — signaling concerted moves to tie data, talent, and compute together. (techrepublic.com)
