Follow-Up: Meta's Q3 Free Cash Flow Turns Negative at $2.12 Billion as Shares Fall About 7% and CDS Costs Hit a Record
MENLO PARK, Calif. — The aftershocks of Meta's third-quarter results continued on October 23: the company's free cash flow was negative $2.12 billion in the quarter, its first quarterly cash burn in more than a decade; its shares closed down about 7% on Thursday, and the cost of insuring Meta's debt against default, its credit default swaps (CDS), rose to a record high.
Meta's five-year CDS jumped 7.3 basis points on Thursday to a record 114.5 basis points, Reuters reported, as investors grew more cautious about the scale and payback period of its artificial-intelligence infrastructure spending. The swing into negative free cash flow was driven by surging capital expenditure: Meta's third-quarter capex reached $34.91 billion, including finance-lease principal payments, exceeding operating cash flow of $32.79 billion. The company also raised the low end of its full-year capex guidance from $130 billion to $135 billion, with the top end unchanged at $145 billion.
As GSM reported earlier, Meta's third-quarter revenue rose 26% year on year to $64.6 billion, operating profit fell 37% after a $9.89 billion settlement charge, and the company guided fourth-quarter revenue to between $73 billion and $76 billion. (GSM, based on Reuters and company filings)
Source: GSM · America
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: Meta 位于加州 Menlo Park 的总部。照片：LPS.1，CC0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Meta's headquarters in Menlo Park, California. Photo: LPS.1, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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