The decline also comes as the NASDAQ retreats, dragged down by a potential correction in the equipment manufacturer sector - described by many observers as being in a state of speculative overheating - which had until now been seen as the primary beneficiaries of the race for computing power. Surprisingly, Meta, much like Google, may also be considering a secondary offering.

This is unexpected because, under normal circumstances and according to the tenets of traditional finance, it is difficult to imagine a highly profitable group with no net debt, a $1.5 trillion valuation, and over $80bn in operating income last year, being unable to self-fund its operations.

And yet, as a leading "hyperscaler" in the AI era, Meta intends to invest a staggering $145bn this year - and even more in 2027. This amount significantly exceeds the $116bn in operating cash flow projected for 2025, which is expected to grow only modestly during FY 2026.

The sheer scale of this investment effort surpasses all previously established benchmarks. Meta reported $200bn in revenue for 2025, with a robust operating margin exceeding 40% and a $70bn investment program that already represented a historical record in terms of capital intensity.

The fact that very profitable hyperscalers are opting for capital increases rather than debt markets suggests two possibilities: either credit has dried up, amid panic in the "private credit" market, even for the highest-rated issuers; or Meta, like Alphabet, considers its stock overvalued. This would make issuing equity more attractive and less costly than debt in a context where interest rates are at a 20-year high.

A look at valuation ratios, however, suggests that the Menlo Park-based group is not trading at historically high levels. On the contrary, there has always been significant investor distrust regarding Meta's governance, which is tightly controlled by Mark Zuckerberg. The episode of the so-far aborted breakthrough into virtual reality has also left its mark.

Nevertheless, over the last decade, Meta - which was already starting from a high base - has seen its revenue and operating profit increase sevenfold, while the number of shares outstanding has decreased by 12% on a diluted basis. During this period, those who bet against Zuckerberg paid the price, as did those who believed he had lost his mind in 2012 when he acquired Instagram and its thirteen employees for $1bn - a figure that triggered an avalanche of sarcasm at the time.