First Instagram. Then WhatsApp. Now he's buying into Scale AI for $14.8 billion.
This time it's different though. Meta only bought 49% - not the whole company.
Why? Because regulators are watching. The FTC is already suing Meta over those previous deals.
Here's what's interesting:
Scale AI's CEO Alexandr Wang is joining Meta to run a new "superintelligence" lab. That's a big word for trying to build AI smarter than humans.
Meta is clearly behind in AI. Their Llama 4 launch was disappointing. Google and OpenAI are ahead.
Scale AI makes the data that trains AI models. Think of them as the company that teaches AI how to see and understand things.
Now Meta gets first access to that data pipeline.
The numbers tell the story:
ā Scale AI made $870 million last year
ā They're projecting $2 billion this year
ā Meta's spending $72 billion on AI infrastructure in 2025
But the catch is, Scale AI works with Google, OpenAI, and Microsoft too. How do you serve everyone when you're owned by their competitor?
Some clients might look elsewhere now.
The AI race is getting expensive. And messy.
What do you think - smart move by Meta or too little too late?
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