Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on June 13, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Meta's $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI highlights regulatory challenges and strategic moves in AI technology.
(Reuters) -Meta has finalized a $14.3 billion purchase of a 49% stake in data labeling startup Scale AI, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Scale AI said late on Thursday that the deal would value it at $29 billion and that the startup's chief executive, Alexandr Wang, would join Meta to head a new team focused on artificial general intelligence, the latest twist in Silicon Valley's race toward the cutting-edge technology.
Founded in 2004 by CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his fellow Harvard University students and originally called "TheFacebook", the company dropped "The" from its name after securing the Facebook.com domain in 2005. It rebranded as Meta Platforms in 2021.
The Scale AI deal comes when Meta, which has a market value of $1.77 trillion, contends with antitrust scrutiny surrounding its acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram.
Here are Meta's major deals over the years:
Target Deal Value Announced Closed Scope
WhatsApp $19 February October Mobile messaging platform
billion 2014 2014 acquired in a cash and stock
deal.
Scale AI $14.3 June 2025 Deal could help Meta have access
billion to the high-quality data labeling
(sources that's increasingly gaining
say) significance.
Oculus VR $2 billion March Same year Maker of virtual-reality glasses
2014 for gaming in fast-growing
wearable devices space.
Instagram $1 billion April Same year Mobile photo- and video-sharing
2012 platform acquired in a cash and
stock deal.
Kustomer $1 billion November February Customer relationship management
(reported 2020 2022 platform, which raised $60
by The million in financing in 2023 amid
Informatio spin-out from Meta.
n)
CTRL‑Labs Between September Same year New York-based startup
$500 2019 specializing in non-invasive
million neural interface technology.
and $1
billion
(reported
by CNBC)
LiveRail $400 July 2014 Same year San Francisco-based video and
million to advertising company.
$500
million
(reported
by
TechCrunch
)
Giphy $400 May 2020 Unable to Meta faced regulatory scrutiny
million close from UK's Competition and Markets
Authority. In May 2023, it
decided to sell Giphy to
Shutterstock for $53 million.
(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Kanjyik Ghosh Editing by Pooja Desai and Rashmi Aich)
Meta has finalized a $14.3 billion purchase of a 49% stake in Scale AI, valuing the startup at $29 billion.
Alexandr Wang, the chief executive of Scale AI, will join Meta to head a new team focused on artificial general intelligence.
Meta is currently under antitrust scrutiny concerning its acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram, which may impact future deals.
Meta's significant acquisitions include WhatsApp for $19 billion, Instagram for $1 billion, and Oculus VR for $2 billion.
Meta faced regulatory scrutiny from the UK's Competition and Markets Authority regarding Giphy and decided to sell it to Shutterstock for $53 million.
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