Meta stock sinks as investors ‘caught off guard’ by AI spending plans

Shares of Meta Platforms sank nearly 15 per cent on Thursday, sparking a selloff in big tech stocks after the social media giant signaled its costly bet on AI would take years to pay off. The premarket drop was set to erase more than US$180 billion from the company’s market value and triggered a drop of two per cent to five per cent in shares of AI-focused firms Microsoft, Alphabet and Snap. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who floored Wall Street …