Meta got a roughly 10% pop for planning to resell its excess AI compute, a business the market can finally put on a spreadsheet. In contrast to Zuck’s Superintelligence, which seems to lead nowhere. But reselling compute to monetize overbuilt infrastructure is a sign that a company has stopped making the case for its core business. Barely anyone at Meta speaks for the advertising engine that funds it all.
Eric Seufert traces this vacuum to a specific absence:
But I believe that Meta is currently gripped by a strategic morass that prevents it from making a convincing argument that these investments are justified and commercially prudent. I noted in a recent episode of the Stratechery podcast that Meta has a communication problem: Mark Zuckerberg simply refuses to engage with the value of digital advertising infrastructure through either a tactical or conceptual lens. Sheryl Sandberg used to fulfill that role: she would articulate the value that Meta provided to its 10MM advertisers on each earnings call, making the case that Meta’s advertising platform is especially powerful for small businesses. But beyond that, she would meet with customers, large and small; I know dozens of CMOs and marketing leaders who have taken pictures with her over the years. No Meta executive occupies that role now.