Meta Platforms spends $0 on stock buybacks in Q2, borrows $25B to feed the AI machine

Meta Platforms went from being one of Wall Street’s most generous stock repurchasers to spending exactly zero dollars on buybacks in Q2 2026. At the same time, the company borrowed $24.91 billion in long-term debt. Shares dropped roughly 8-10% in after-hours trading following the July 29 earnings report.

For context, Meta repurchased $22.92 billion of its own Class A common stock during the same quarter last year.

Where the money is actually going

Meta’s capital expenditures hit $31.1 billion in Q2 alone, directed primarily at servers and data centers to power its AI ambitions.

The company has narrowed its full-year 2026 capex guidance to $130-145 billion, slightly above its previous range of $125-145 billion.

Meta generated just $784 million in free cash flow during Q2, compared to $8.55 billion in the year-ago period. That’s a decline of more than 90%.

Total long-term debt swelled to $83.66 billion as of June 30, 2026, up from $58.74 billion at the end of 2025. The company added roughly $25 billion to its balance sheet in just six months.

The earnings picture

Revenue came in at $60.8 billion versus the $60.2 billion consensus. But earnings per share fell short at $6.18, against the $7.14 analysts had projected.

The after-hours selloff of 8-10% wiped tens of billions off Meta’s market capitalization. For a company of Meta’s size, that kind of move signals genuine concern about the direction of capital allocation.

Why crypto and tech investors should care

Meta’s free cash flow of $784 million against $83 billion in debt means the company’s ability to service that debt depends almost entirely on the advertising business continuing to perform. Any slowdown in ad revenue, whether from economic weakness, regulatory pressure, or competitive threats, would make that debt load look far less comfortable.

A year ago, massive buybacks provided a floor under the stock price and boosted per-share earnings mechanically. Removing that support while simultaneously missing EPS estimates creates a very different risk profile.

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