Meta Platforms has announced the formation of a new applied artificial intelligence (AI) engineering group within its Reality Labs division, a move coupled with a significant multi-year content licensing agreement with News Corp. The new team, led by Vice President Maher Saba, will report directly to Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth and is designed to accelerate AI development, particularly for wearable technology like smart glasses and augmented reality platforms.
The strategic initiative is backed by a deal with News Corp, valued at up to $50 million annually for at least three years. This agreement grants Meta access to News Corp's extensive story archives and fresh content from U.S. and U.K. outlets, providing high-quality journalistic data to train its AI models. Industry analysts view this licensed content as a critical "input" for AI systems, akin to semiconductors for tech infrastructure.
This investment is part of Meta's broader 2026 capital expenditure plan, estimated between $115 billion and $135 billion, which includes work at its Superintelligence Labs. The move signals a pivot for Reality Labs, which posted a $19.193 billion operating loss in 2025, towards integrating AI more deeply into its product lineup to create differentiated services and compete with rivals like Google and OpenAI.
Concurrently, Meta's financial performance remains robust. The company recently reported strong Q4 2025 results, with earnings per share of $8.88 beating estimates and revenue of $59.89 billion marking a 23.8% year-over-year increase. Meta also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share. Despite a pre-scheduled insider sale by CFO Susan Li of roughly $36.47 million in stock, Wall Street sentiment stays bullish, with an average analyst price target of $844.44 and institutional ownership near 80%.
The News Corp deal exemplifies a growing "pay-to-train" trend in the AI industry, where companies license publisher content to avoid legal disputes and ensure access to premium data. News Corp CEO Robert Thomson framed the dynamic as a choice between "woo or sue." Market reaction has been neutral, with Meta's stock holding steady, reflecting investor confidence in the company's methodical AI strategy despite ongoing losses in its futuristic divisions.
