Meta Platforms (META) Stock: The $14 Billion Bet That Has Analysts Excited

TLDR

Table of Contents

Meta hired three OpenAI researchers from Zurich office with CEO Sam Altman claiming Zuckerberg offered employees up to $100 million to join
Company invested $14.3 billion in Scale AI and hired CEO Alexandr Wang to lead new 50-person “superintelligence team”
Meta delayed Llama 4 Behemoth AI model launch until fall due to concerns over insufficient improvements
WhatsApp introducing ads in Updates tab and paid subscriptions to monetize its 3 billion users
Cantor Fitzgerald raised price target to $807, predicting 16% upside from current levels

Meta Platforms continues its aggressive push into artificial intelligence dominance through strategic talent acquisitions and massive investments. The social media giant recently poached three key researchers from OpenAI’s Zurich office.

The hired researchers include Google DeepMind alumni Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov, and Xiaohua Zhai. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has accused Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg of offering company employees upward of $100 million to switch sides.

🚨 Breaking: Mark Zuckerberg's Meta has poached three OpenAI researchers to join its superintelligence team.
Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov, and Xiaohua Zhai all of whom were working at OpenAI’s Zurich office.
~WSJ

Looks like 100M is hard to ignore 🤷
Just a few days ago, Sam… pic.twitter.com/pGPb2EtClm

— AshutoshShrivastava (@ai_for_success) June 26, 2025

Meta is also pursuing Safe Superintelligence CEO Daniel Gross and former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman for its planned superintelligence lab. Zuckerberg initially wanted to acquire all of Safe Superintelligence but was rejected by co-founder Ilya Sutskever.

The company’s most expensive hire involved a $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI. Meta bought a 49% stake primarily to secure CEO Alexandr Wang to lead their new superintelligence team.

This 50-person expert group represents Zuckerberg’s personal effort to rival other tech giants in AI development. The massive sum spent largely for one hire shows Meta’s willingness to make expensive bets on top talent.

Meta also attempted to purchase Perplexity AI but couldn’t reach agreement on terms. These moves follow the company’s decision to postpone its Llama 4 Behemoth AI model launch until fall.

AI Model Delays Signal Strategic Shift

The delayed model launch stems from concerns that improvements weren’t substantial enough over previous versions. Gene Munster from Deepwater Asset Management views this as confirmation that Llama is struggling.

Meta’s approach differs from competitors like OpenAI and Google. The company offers open-source AI models that developers can modify and use freely.

Meta benefits from this strategy by gaining insights into how others improve their models. The company uses AI primarily for advertising and content recommendations rather than selling access directly.

CFO Susan Li reported a 4% increase in user time on Threads since introducing Llama to recommendation systems. Meta also integrates AI into hardware products like Ray-Ban Meta smartglasses.

WhatsApp Monetization Unlocks New Revenue

Meta is finally monetizing WhatsApp more aggressively after years of underutilization. The platform will introduce ads in the Updates tab, separate from personal messaging areas.

WhatsApp has 3 billion monthly active users but remains Meta’s least monetized platform. About 1.5 billion people use the Updates tab daily, creating a large advertising opportunity.

The company will also offer paid subscriptions for business or creator content updates. These features roll out gradually over coming months without disrupting the core messaging experience.

Wall Street analysts have responded positively to these developments. Since June 12, several firms increased their price targets by an average of nearly 12%.

Cantor Fitzgerald issued the most bullish target at $807, representing 19% upside from their previous $676 target. This implies 16% gains from recent trading levels.

Wells Fargo, Oppenheimer, and Bank of America also raised targets. The average among recent updates reaches $753, suggesting almost 8% upside potential.

The talent acquisition strategy and WhatsApp monetization plans have strengthened analyst confidence. Meta’s willingness to spend billions on AI talent demonstrates commitment to maintaining competitive positioning.

Wang’s hiring particularly impressed analysts as AI talent battles intensify across big tech. The superintelligence team could unlock new revenue streams if successful in developing breakthrough AI capabilities.

Meta CFO Susan Li highlighted AI’s impact during recent earnings calls, showing measurable engagement improvements. The company continues leveraging AI across its family of apps and future hardware products.

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