NEW YORK, July 2, 2026, 04:20 (EDT)
- Meta Platforms, Inc. NASDAQ:META was last seen changing hands at $612.91, up 8.8% from its previous close, ahead of the U.S. cash session.
- The stock move tacked on roughly $127.6 billion to market value, about six times what Meta spent on capex in Q1.
- CoreWeave Inc. NASDAQ:CRWV and Nebius Group N.V. NASDAQ:NBIS dropped after news broke that Meta might move into AI compute rental, knocking neocloud names.
- Nasdaq says markets will be closed July 3 for Independence Day observed.
Meta Platforms NASDAQ:META jumped 8.8% in early New York premarket Thursday after a Reuters item said Bloomberg News reported Meta is planning to offer extra AI compute power through a new cloud business. The Nasdaq opens for its normal session at 9:30 a.m. EDT. With markets closed Friday for the Independence Day holiday, Thursday is the last U.S. cash trading day before the long weekend.
The price jump wiped out some of Meta’s earlier losses this year. Shares closed at $612.91, putting Meta’s market cap at around $1.572 trillion. That’s up $127.6 billion over the last close. The single-day jump is 6.4 times what Meta spent on capital expenditures plus lease principal in Q1, and 10.3 times first-quarter free cash flow.
| Meta rally math | Figure | Rally multiple |
|---|---|---|
| Market cap gained after last close | $127.6 bln | — |
| Q1 capex | $19.84 bln | 6.4x |
| Q1 free cash | $12.39 bln | 10.3x |
| Total cash, equivalents and marketable securities | $81.18 bln | 1.6x |
That’s the pitch for investors. The move in the stock isn’t just about a possible new product. Shares are also reacting as the market puts a higher value on unused or extra AI infrastructure, treating it more like potential inventory. Meta already flagged 2026 capex at $125 billion to $145 billion, upping its previous range of $115 billion to $135 billion, based on component prices and how much future data center space it wants.
Reuters reported the plans are still being worked out and might shift. Meta did not comment. Reuters said it also could not confirm the Bloomberg story. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in May that cloud computing was “definitely on the table,” with companies coming to Meta “almost every week” to request its AI models or extra compute. Reuters
Gil Luria at D.A. Davidson told Reuters the hit was probably bigger for “neoclouds than the big hyperscalers.” He said Meta “may not need them anymore.” That’s why CoreWeave Inc. NASDAQ:CRWV and Nebius Group N.V. NASDAQ:NBIS felt more pressure than Amazon.com Inc. NASDAQ:AMZN, Microsoft Corp. NASDAQ:MSFT or Alphabet Inc. NASDAQ:GOOGL. Reuters
| Security | Latest price | Move vs prior close |
|---|---|---|
| Meta Platforms, Inc. NASDAQ:META | $612.91 | up 8.8% |
| Invesco QQQ Trust NASDAQ:QQQ | $725.17 | down 1.5% |
| SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust NYSEARCA:SPY | $745.76 | off 0.1% |
| CoreWeave Inc. NASDAQ:CRWV | $85.69 | fell 13.9% |
| Nebius Group N.V. NASDAQ:NBIS | $229.18 | dropped 17.0% |
Meta added enough in market value to equal about 2.8 times CoreWeave’s latest $45.2 billion valuation. That’s notable since this cloud update moved some of the AI infrastructure story away from suppliers and toward the buyer with more cash, more users and bigger model plans.
Meta moved Alex Schultz, its chief marketing officer, into the newly created chief data officer role late Wednesday. Schultz is set to run AI analytics worldwide, according to Reuters. Denise Moreno steps up as the new marketing chief. Schultz wrote on LinkedIn that AI is driving “effectively unlimited demand for insights.” Reuters
The risk is clear. A compute rental unit might let Meta claw back some of its heavy AI spending, but it could also signal it overbuilt for Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and AI features. Meta’s Q1 report shows costs and expenses jumped 35% year over year, with ad impressions up 19% and average ad price up 12%.
The next question is if Meta can hold above $600 into the holiday break, with no official word yet on timing, price, or revenue for its reported cloud plan.
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