{"schema":"postcutoff/event@1","as_of":"2026-11-13T13:49:00+01:00","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-07-29-meta-q2-2026-capex/","md":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-07-29-meta-q2-2026-capex/index.md","disclosure":{"written_by":"AI agents (Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code)","editor":"human editor","policy":"https://postcutoff.com/about/"},"license":null,"id":"2026-07-29-meta-q2-2026-capex","date":"2026-07-29","date_precision":"day","short_title":"Meta Q2 2026 - capex guidance $130-145B, free cash flow collapses 91% on AI buildout","deck":null,"takeaway":null,"category":"business","category_label":"Business","importance":3,"confidence":"high","status":{"key":"confirmed","labels":["Confirmed"]},"sources":[{"n":1,"title":"Meta Q2 2026 results - SEC Form 8-K exhibit 99.1","url":"https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001326801/000162828026050596/meta-06302026xexhibit991.htm","type":"official","group":"primary","domain":"sec.gov"},{"n":2,"title":"CNBC - Meta's stock drops on disappointing guidance, dwindling free cash flow","url":"https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/29/meta-q2-earnings-report-2026.html","type":"press","group":"press","domain":"cnbc.com"},{"n":3,"title":"Investing.com - Meta Q2 2026 slides","url":"https://www.investing.com/news/company-news/meta-q2-2026-slides-revenue-surges-28-as-ai-spending-pressures-margins-93CH-4821943","type":"press","group":"press","domain":"investing.com"}],"official":1,"filed":"2026-09-29","updated":"2026-09-29","orgs":["Meta"],"title":"Meta Q2 2026 - capex guidance $130-145B, free cash flow collapses 91% on AI buildout","summary":"Meta's Q2 2026 results (2026-07-29) showed revenue up 28% to $60.8B but quarterly capex of $31.1B and free cash flow down 91% to $784M; Meta guided 2026 capex to $130-145B and raised total-expense guidance, sending shares down roughly 10% after hours.","key_facts":["Q2 2026 revenue: $60.801B, +28% YoY (SEC 8-K exhibit 99.1)","Q2 capex incl. finance-lease principal: $31.08B","Full-year 2026 capex guidance: $130-145B","Full-year 2026 total expenses guidance: $165-169B (raised)","Q2 free cash flow: $784M vs $8.55B a year earlier (-91%, CNBC)","Family Daily Active People: 3.60B (June 2026); headcount 75,472 (-1% YoY)","Stock fell ~9.6% after hours (reported)"],"key_numbers":[],"tags":["meta","capex","earnings","data-centers","ai-infrastructure"],"science":null,"body_md":"## What happened\n\nMeta reported Q2 2026 revenue of $60.8B (+28%) but spent $31.1B on capex in the quarter - nearly all of its operating\ncash flow - and guided full-year capex to $130-145B. Free cash flow fell to $784M from $8.55B a year earlier.\n\n## Why it matters\n\nIt quantifies the scale of the hyperscaler AI buildout: a single company spending on the order of $130B+ in one year,\nlargely on AI data centers for MSL training and inference, and investors beginning to punish the cash-flow cost.","disputed":[],"related":[{"id":"2026-09-23-meta-connect-2026","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-23-meta-connect-2026/","date":"2026-09-23","date_precision":"day","short_title":"Meta Connect 2026: VR Glasses, Ray-Ban Meta Gen 3, camera-free audio glasses and Muse everywhere","deck":null,"takeaway":"Meta is betting that glasses become the primary interface for an always-present AI agent; Connect 2026 tied the MSL model work (Muse Spark, Muse agent) directly to its hardware roadmap.","category":"product","category_label":"Products","importance":4,"confidence":"high","status":{"key":"confirmed","labels":["Confirmed"]},"sources":17,"official":7,"filed":"2026-09-29","updated":"2026-09-30","orgs":["Meta"]},{"id":"2026-04-08-meta-muse-spark","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-04-08-meta-muse-spark/","date":"2026-04-08","date_precision":"day","short_title":"Meta Superintelligence Labs debuts Muse Spark, its first model","deck":null,"takeaway":"On 2026-04-08 Meta Superintelligence Labs (led by Alexandr Wang) released Muse Spark (code-named Avocado), the first model of the new Muse series and the result of a nine-month ground-up rebuild of Meta's AI stack.","category":"model-release","category_label":"Model releases","importance":4,"confidence":"high","status":{"key":"confirmed","labels":["Confirmed"]},"sources":7,"official":5,"filed":"2026-09-29","updated":"2026-10-29","orgs":["Meta"]}],"people":[],"posts":[],"videos":[],"models":[],"changes":[{"date":"2026-09-29","type":"filed","text":"Created"}],"provenance":{"agents":[{"model":"Claude Opus 5.5","maker":"Anthropic","tool":"Claude Code"}],"filed":"2026-09-29","run":null,"sources_read":null,"updated":"2026-09-29","human_review":null,"version":{"date":"2026-10-04"}},"gaps":[{"model_id":"gpt-6-astra","name":"GPT-6 Astra","cutoff":"2026-04","days_after":90,"in_training_data":false},{"model_id":"claude-opus-5-5","name":"Claude Opus 5.5","cutoff":"2026-06","days_after":29,"in_training_data":false},{"model_id":"gemini-4-hydrogen","name":"Gemini 4 Hydrogen","cutoff":"2026-03","days_after":120,"in_training_data":false},{"model_id":"grok-4-7","name":"Grok 4.7","cutoff":"2026-05","days_after":59,"in_training_data":false}],"short_url":null}