Meta's spending closes in on its cash
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What the chart shows
For most of the past decade and a half, Meta's apps threw off far more cash than the company put into buildings and servers. The dots on this chart show that cushion thinning: US$69.7 billion of spending on property and equipment in 2025, against US$115.8 billion of cash from operations.
The September quarter pushed it further. Revenue grew 26% to US$64.6 billion, yet free cash flow was negative, and Meta raised the low end of its spending forecast for this year from US$130 billion to US$135 billion, with US$145 billion at the top.
Then came the plan to give every shareholder a non-voting Class C share for each share they own, from January 2027. Shares without votes let Meta raise money while Mark Zuckerberg keeps control, and we read their timing as a sign the building is not expected to slow.
The story behind it
Meta beat on revenue, took a US$9.89 billion legal charge and created shares without votes Read the edition →Meta on the calendar
Next results: date to come. It goes on the calendar as soon as Meta announces it. Economic calendar →The numbers
Cash from operations (columns) and capital spending (dots), 2010 to 2025, in US$bn. Meta now forecasts US$135bn to US$145bn of spending in 2026.
| Cash from operations | Capital spending | |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 0.7 | 0.3 |
| 2011 | 1.5 | 0.6 |
| 2012 | 1.6 | 1.2 |
| 2013 | 4.2 | 1.4 |
| 2014 | 7.3 | 1.8 |
| 2015 | 10.3 | 2.5 |
| 2016 | 16.1 | 4.5 |
| 2017 | 24.2 | 6.7 |
| 2018 | 29.3 | 13.9 |
| 2019 | 36.3 | 15.1 |
| 2020 | 38.7 | 15.2 |
| 2021 | 57.7 | 18.7 |
| 2022 | 50.5 | 31.2 |
| 2023 | 71.1 | 27.0 |
| 2024 | 91.3 | 37.3 |
| 2025 | 115.8 | 69.7 |
16 rows: scroll the table for the rest.
How we make these charts: one chart a day from a story in the edition, drawn from the figures the story names and checked against the sources named on the chart before it is published. General information only, not financial advice.
