# Meta's filing suggests AI funding could become harder

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/s/metas-filing-suggests-ai-funding-could-become-harder/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

- Speaker: [Ed Elson](https://realalpha.app/people/ed-elson/) (Host)
- Host: [Scott Galloway](https://realalpha.app/people/scott-galloway/)
- Show: Prof G Markets
- Episode: [The $3.5T Bailout: Elon's Plan To Merge Tesla And SpaceX](https://realalpha.app/v/sxlPYNAERL4/), Oct 26, 2026
- Moment: 1:08:45 to 1:12:38 of the episode (4 min), playing on https://realalpha.app/s/metas-filing-suggests-ai-funding-could-become-harder/; the episode from there: https://realalpha.app/v/sxlPYNAERL4/?t=4125

## Quote

> “this ai boom which has generally been **funded with investors money** not with profits that might be about to run out”
> — [Ed Elson](https://realalpha.app/people/ed-elson/) at [1:09:23](https://realalpha.app/v/sxlPYNAERL4/?t=4163) · Prof G Markets

## Takeaways

1. Meta cites competing AI capital raises as a tougher funding backdrop.
2. Ed says startup investors are becoming more hesitant.
3. Scott connects share issuance to funding CapEx and maintaining control.

## About this segment

Ed Elson reads Meta's filing as a sign that AI fundraising may be getting harder. Scott links the disclosure to planned share issuance, CapEx and Zuckerberg's control.

From “The $3.5T Bailout: Elon's Plan To Merge Tesla And SpaceX”, Oct 26, 2026. [Watch the full episode](https://realalpha.app/v/sxlPYNAERL4/)

## Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

[1:08:57](https://realalpha.app/v/sxlPYNAERL4/?t=4137) There you go. My final thing that I just want to bring up to you that I thought was really interesting, just looking at Meta's 10Q filing. So they said, quote, recent significant capital raises at other notable companies and others soon anticipated to take place to fund the same AI growth. For example, Alphabet, SpaceX, Anthropoc and OpenAI, here's the most important part, have resulted in an increasingly challenging environment for raising capital.

[1:09:29](https://realalpha.app/v/sxlPYNAERL4/?t=4169) um that to me was probably the most important sentence in the filing because they're basically saying like this ai boom which has generally been funded with investors money not with profits that might be about to run out and i talk to my friends who run ai startups or who are investors in that ecosystem a lot of them are saying the same thing which is that the vibes seem to be shifting and capital isn't drying up but it's certainly a lot more a lot more hesitant you could go out and raise a billion dollar round easy no problem a month ago but that's not true today um that's what i'm hearing and it seemed to be reflected in that 10q are you hearing the same thing? It's the K-shaped economy. The companies backed by Sequoia and Andrews and Horowitz are eating Wagyu and Nobu, and the smaller companies and everybody else

[1:10:23](https://realalpha.app/v/sxlPYNAERL4/?t=4223) are buying groceries on buy now, pay later. There's just so much capital available, I think, for the perceived winners. I read the same thing you read at Meta. I read it as justification for them trying to figure out new stock issuance that lets Zuckerberg maintain control such that if the wealth tax passes, he can raise money without giving up his control of the company. I saw it as them trying to create a new class of stock that's non-voting such that he can maintain control and if he needs to raise what I think is like he needs to raise like $15 billion kind of overnight if Prop 40 or whatever it is goes through.

[1:11:04](https://realalpha.app/v/sxlPYNAERL4/?t=4264) So I didn't see that as a reflection on capital. I think it's both. I think it's both. I think they're saying like, we need to issue these shares because Mark needs to maintain control because we need to sell $800 billion worth of shares because we need to raise money for the CapEx. But I mean, they're going to spend this amount of money and they're running out of cash flows and they don't want to keep raising debt.

[1:11:27](https://realalpha.app/v/sxlPYNAERL4/?t=4287) But I think they're also, so that's one part of it. And then I think they're also saying, by the way, we might struggle. I think it's both. I think Meta's on such a role that I don't think everyone would pray for their problems in terms of their ability to raise capital. They're able to off-balance sheet a lot of their capital commitments. They're able to offload that risk to other private credit sources.

[1:11:58](https://realalpha.app/v/sxlPYNAERL4/?t=4318) Their stock, I think, is trading at a near all-time high. Their business is just firing on all 12,000 cylinders. If you want something that marks the age, it's meta up 26% with fewer employees. I mean, that's every politician and citizen's nightmare and every shareholder's dream, that a company this big can grow 26% a year with fewer employees. That's just, okay, where does that take us? But I didn't read it that way.

[1:12:27](https://realalpha.app/v/sxlPYNAERL4/?t=4347) Okay.