“Excited to build personal superintelligence”: Meta posts $47.5 billion quarter on ad surge, AI bets
Meta’s second-quarter revenue hit $47.5 billion, driven by strong ad sales and AI investment. Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s founder and chief executive, said, “I'm excited to build personal superintelligence for everyone in the world.”
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Meta Platforms reported strong second-quarter results on Tuesday, as the social media giant reaped the rewards of higher advertising prices and a growing user base, while signaling continued aggressive investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure.
“We've had a strong quarter both in terms of our business and community,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s founder and chief executive. “I'm excited to build personal superintelligence for everyone in the world.”
Meta’s revenue surged 22 percent from a year earlier to $47.52 billion, bolstered by an 11 percent rise in ad impressions and a 9 percent increase in average ad prices. The company now counts 3.48 billion people as daily active users across its family of apps — an increase of 6 percent.
The company also continues to return capital to shareholders, with $9.76 billion in share repurchases and $1.33 billion in dividend-related payments. Its cash and short-term investments stood at $47.07 billion as of June 30.
Still, Meta is pouring money into its AI-driven future. Capital expenditures reached $17.01 billion for the quarter, part of a full-year spending forecast that has now been raised slightly to between $66 billion and $72 billion. The company said it expects a similar level of growth in capital spending in 2026.
“While we are still very early in planning for next year, there are a few factors we expect will provide meaningful upward pressure on our 2026 total expense growth rate,” Meta’s finance team noted, citing increased infrastructure costs and compensation for technical hires.
Meta said total headcount rose 7 percent year-over-year to nearly 76,000 employees.
The company offered guidance of $47.5 billion to $50.5 billion in revenue for the third quarter, with foreign currency providing a modest tailwind. However, it cautioned that fourth-quarter growth is likely to slow due to tougher year-over-year comparisons.
Amid its strong financial performance, Meta acknowledged growing risks in the European Union, where regulators are scrutinizing its Less Personalized Ads product, introduced in 2024 to comply with the bloc’s Digital Markets Act.
“We cannot rule out that [the EC] may seek to impose further modifications... that would result in a materially worse user and advertiser experience,” the company said. Any such changes could significantly affect European revenue as soon as this quarter, it warned.
Meta has appealed the EC’s decision, but modifications could be enforced even as the appeal is underway.
The company also anticipates a higher effective tax rate later in the year, despite some relief from a newly enacted U.S. tax law.
For now, Meta’s momentum appears intact — but its future will hinge on how it navigates both AI opportunity and mounting regulatory scrutiny.
