Hedge fund billionaire Daniel Loeb added significant positions in two of the world’s largest technology companies to his Third Point LLC portfolio during the first quarter of fiscal year 2026.
Loeb acquired 90,000 shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ: META) and 175,000 shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) as both companies deepen their commitments to artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Meta posted first-quarter revenue of $56.31 billion, beating analyst estimates of $55.45 billion, while adjusted earnings of $7.31 per share surpassed the consensus estimate of $6.78 per share.
The company guided for second-quarter revenue of $58 billion to $61 billion, compared to analyst expectations of $59.50 billion, signaling continued confidence in its growth trajectory.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company is increasing its infrastructure capital expenditure forecast for the year, citing higher component costs, particularly in memory pricing.
Meta acquired Assured Robot Intelligence, a humanoid robotics startup, for an undisclosed sum, folding the team into its Superintelligence Labs research division as it advances its robotics ambitions.
AI Chief Alexandr Wang has debunked rumors that the company’s SuperIntelligence Lab is staffed with top AI researchers who were poached from rival companies with lucrative pay packages.
Meta is moving thousands of employees into new AI-focused divisions while simultaneously cutting roughly 8,000 jobs as Zuckerberg accelerates the company’s massive AI ambitions.
The company has also started paying a limited group of creators in USDC via crypto wallets on the Solana and Polygon blockchains, beginning with Colombia and the Philippines, with the program expected to expand to more than 160 countries by year-end.
On the regulatory front, Meta is temporarily granting competing AI chatbot developers free access to WhatsApp in Europe as it seeks to resolve escalating antitrust concerns from EU regulators and avoid potentially billions in penalties.
Alphabet reported quarterly earnings of $5.11 per share, blowing past the analyst consensus estimate of $2.62, while revenue of $109.9 billion beat the Street estimate of $106.93 billion and was up from $90.23 billion in the same period last year.
The company also announced a 5% increase in its dividend, reflecting strong financial health even as it accelerates spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Alphabet and Blackstone Inc. said they are forming a new artificial intelligence cloud and data center venture in the United States, further expanding the company’s AI footprint.
Anthropic is committed to spending $200 billion with Google Cloud over five years as part of a recent agreement, underscoring the scale of demand for Alphabet’s cloud infrastructure.
Google DeepMind has reportedly agreed to hire more than 20 researchers from AI startup Contextual AI and license its technology in a deal valued between $80 million and $90 million.
Google and Samsung Electronics Co. have unveiled new AI-powered smart glasses featuring Gemini integration, real-time translation and deep Android XR support, marking a major push into next-generation wearable computing.
Alphabet announced plans to raise $80 billion through equity offerings in order to help fund investments in AI compute infrastructure, citing “unprecedented customer demand.”
Loeb’s decision to initiate positions in both companies reflects growing institutional confidence that AI infrastructure spending will translate into sustained earnings growth for the sector’s largest players.
