Meta just dropped a whopping $15 billion for a 49% stake in data company Scale AI. The startup, led by 28-year-old CEO Alexandr Wang, is now valued near $30 billion—double its worth a year ago.
Meta’s investment solidifies a key AI partnership. The company said it plans to “deepen the work we do together producing data for AI models,” and Wang will join Meta’s new superintelligence lab.
This looks like a record-breaking acquihire. Tech analyst Ben Thompson called it a “very expensive acquihire of Alexandr Wang.” The deal brings Wang and his team closer to Zuckerberg’s AI ambitions—much like Microsoft’s $650 million deal to get Inflection’s Mustafa Suleyman or Google’s $2.7 billion for Character.AI founder Noam Shazeer. 
Wang, however, isn’t a headline-grabbing AI researcher. TheInformation notes he’s “essentially a business guy with technical chops,” better at promotion than deep AI research, according to insiders.
Meta is betting big that Wang’s leadership pays off despite cautionary tales. Past Meta buys like Instagram and WhatsApp cofounders eventually left the company, sometimes even competing against it later.
Reed Albergotti from Semafor contends some of the $15 billion is an advance for future work Scale AI will do for Meta, so this is more than just a talent grab.
Meta’s move is a high-stakes push to own AI’s future—with Wang at the center.
Meta statement:
Meta has finalized our strategic partnership and investment in Scale AI.
As part of this, we will deepen the work we do together producing data for AI models and Alexandr Wang will join Meta to work on our superintelligence efforts.
