Meta bond sale: $20B+ for AI, a week after a $37.5B stock raise

Felix Laurent 3 Nov 2026 3 min read

Big tech

Meta Platforms is selling bonds for the first time in six months to fund its AI build-out. The company wants at least $15 billion from US dollar notes, Bloomberg reported on November 3, 2026. The whole Meta bond sale is expected to reach at least $20 billion. The deal also includes Meta's first-ever bonds in euros.

The bond sale comes a week after Meta raised $37.5 billion in stock. Its free cash flow turned negative last quarter, and S&P has cut its credit outlook. Meta is now paying for AI with money from investors, not only from its ads business.

What Meta is selling

The dollar portion has five parts, with maturities from five to 30 years, TipRanks reported, citing Bloomberg. Early pricing talk on the 30-year bond pointed to a yield about 2.5 percentage points above US Treasuries. Citigroup and Morgan Stanley held investor calls ahead of the sale.

The euro notes could be sold as soon as Wednesday, November 4. Bloomberg's sources said the total could grow if demand stays strong.

Meta is offering "juicier yields" to win buyers despite growing skepticism over Big Tech's bet on AI, Bloomberg wrote. Higher yields mean the market wants more pay for lending to Meta. That is new for a company used to some of the cheapest money in corporate finance.

The timing makes more sense next to what Meta did a week earlier.

A week after a record stock sale

In late October, Meta sold stock on a scale rarely seen from a tech company. It priced $25 billion of Class A common shares at $625 each through forward sale agreements, the company's SEC filings show. Meta will get the cash when those agreements settle.

It also sold 250 million depositary shares of a 6.50% mandatory convertible preferred stock at $50 each, worth $12.5 billion. Those shares turn into common stock around August 2029. Reports also mention a $60 billion at-the-market program that would let Meta sell shares over time.

Meta is preparing for more. In its third-quarter results, the company announced a new non-voting Class C stock, effective January 19, 2027. Its stated purposes include capital raising and potential acquisitions.

Stock, preferred shares and now bonds all lead back to one line in the earnings report.

Why Meta needs the money

Meta reported third-quarter revenue of $64.6 billion on October 21, up 26% from a year earlier. Capital expenditures, including finance lease payments, reached $34.91 billion in the quarter. Most of it went to servers, data centers and network gear.

That left free cash flow at negative $2.12 billion. A year earlier, it was positive $10.6 billion. The quarter also carried a $9.89 billion legal charge tied to a settlement with 52 state attorneys general.

Meta expects 2026 capex of $135 billion to $145 billion. It has not given a 2027 number, but it says it will "continue investing aggressively" next year.

The balance sheet already shows the cost. Long-term debt reached $80.9 billion at the end of September, up from $58.7 billion at the end of 2025. Meta still held $82.45 billion in cash and marketable securities.

Lenders have noticed. S&P Global Ratings lowered its outlook on Meta to negative on October 30, TipRanks reported. The agency pointed to rising capital costs and pressure on cash flow.

Meta is not the only one going to the market.

Big Tech's AI debt wave

The same week, other AI spenders raised money too. Oracle raised $20 billion on November 2, split between a $10 billion bond and a $10 billion stock offering. Alphabet sold €6 billion of bonds the same day.

Microsoft raised $25 billion in late October, its first US investment-grade bond sale since 2017. The five largest cloud and AI companies are projected to spend about $815 billion on property and equipment in 2026, TipRanks reported.

The pattern is the same everywhere. AI capex now runs ahead of what even the most profitable companies earn from their core businesses.

Can Meta keep paying for AI

It can, but no longer on its own cash. Meta's ads business still grows fast, at 26% a year. Yet a $34.91 billion quarter of capex pushed free cash flow below zero. The company also raised $37.5 billion in stock before this bond sale.

The cost of that money is rising. Bond buyers want higher yields, S&P has turned its outlook negative and new shares dilute existing owners. Meta will raise its $20 billion. The real test comes next year, when it sets a 2027 budget that investors will now help pay for.