In addition to being the founder and CEO of Meta Platforms (META +6.55%), Mark Zuckerberg is the social media company's largest individual shareholder, owning about 13% of the company. That means his wealth is heavily tied to Meta's stock performance, which has been trending up over the past few weeks.
Meta stock saw a mini rally from Aug. 31 through Sept. 4, gaining 8%. That increased Zuckerberg's net worth from $206 billion to $219 billion, according to Bloomberg -- not bad for a week's work. Meta had been having a rough year, but a few pieces of good news have sparked a partial recovery.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
Meta just released a new AI model
On Sept. 2, Meta released Muse Spark 1.3, an artificial intelligence (AI) model designed for coding, agentic, and multi-agent workflows. It performed well on benchmark tests, with scores in the same range as GPT 5.6 Sol and Opus 5, two of the top models from OpenAI and Anthropic, respectively.
Meta had to delay the release of an AI model that was originally set for March 2026, primarily because it didn't measure up to rival models. The fact that it has now released several Muse Spark models and that the latest compares well with models from top AI labs signals that the social media giant is becoming increasingly competitive in the AI race.
These models are also notable as Meta's first paid API models, starting with Muse Spark 1.1, released on July 9. Meta's standard rates are $1.25 per million input tokens and $4.25 per million output tokens, significantly lower than OpenAI and Anthropic. With Muse Spark 1.3, Meta isn't just competing on price anymore. It has lower prices and a comparable model.
The spending fears may have been an overreaction
Much of Meta's recent slump has been because of its AI infrastructure spending. It's guiding for capital expenditures (capex) of $130 billion to $145 billion in 2026, and its spending has drained most of its free cash flow (FCF). It reported FCF of $784 million in the second quarter of 2026, down from $12.4 billion in the first quarter.
NASDAQ: META
Key Data Points
The concern was that Meta's AI spending wouldn't translate into revenue, similar to what happened with the metaverse. However, on July 1, the social media company announced Meta Compute, a cloud business that will sell excess compute to outside customers.
As part of that initiative, Meta plans to double its infrastructure capacity from 7 gigawatts (GW) to 14 GW next year. Meta is also starting production this month on Iris, its own custom AI chip built with Broadcom. By making its own chips, Meta can lower its costs and increase its margins with Meta Compute.
Meta hasn't completely recovered yet
Although Zuckerberg's net worth increased by $13 billion, he's still worth less than he was at the beginning of the year. Meta has dropped about 7.1% year-to-date through Sept. 8.
Meta isn't without its risks. It has faced legal issues this year, including a child-safety lawsuit, which it settled for up to $18 million last month. Its significant capex could also become an issue if the AI boom slows.
That said, Meta remains one of the most successful tech companies, and revenue increased 28% year over year to $60.8 billion in Q2 2026. The company is also one of the cheaper AI stocks, trading for just 20 times forward earnings, which could look like a bargain if its infrastructure spending pays off.
