Meta Platforms, Inc. (META.US) is reportedly in discussions with AI video company Pika regarding potential collaboration, exploring both acquisition opportunities and technology licensing agreements. The social media and technology giant previously engaged in acquisition talks with Higgsfield, an image and video generation app company targeting creators, though those negotiations have since been discontinued.

Meta Platforms has been actively pursuing AI-related transactions since the beginning of this year. In June, the company acquired a 49% stake in data platform Scale AI for approximately $15 billion, subsequently appointing Scale's 28-year-old CEO Alexandr Wang as Meta's AI chief. In July, Meta Platforms also acquired PlayAI, a small AI voice generation startup specializing in human-like voice synthesis, though transaction terms were not disclosed. Previously, the company attempted acquisitions of Perplexity AI, Runway AI, and FuriosaAI.

Simultaneously, Meta Platforms has been offering substantial compensation packages to recruit top AI talent from competitors including Google (GOOGL.US), OpenAI, and Apple (AAPL.US), building its formidable "Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL)" team. In July alone, Meta Platforms recruited multiple researchers from OpenAI, including Shengjia Zhao, Jiahui Yu, Shuchao Bi, Hongyu Ren, Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov, and Xiaohua Zhai. The company also brought on Safe Superintelligence startup CEO Daniel Gross and former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman to join MSL.

Earlier this month, Meta Platforms successfully recruited Apple's large language model team head Ruoming Pang with a $200 million compensation package, followed by hiring Mark Lee and Tom Gunter, both former colleagues under Pang's leadership at Apple.

To support its superintelligence initiative, Meta Platforms is seeking $29 billion in funding, with $3 billion from private equity firms including Apollo Global Management (APO.US), KKR (KKR.US), Brookfield (BAM.US), Carlyle (CG.US), and Pimco, while the remaining $26 billion will be raised through debt financing.

Notably, Meta Platforms reported strong second-quarter results and third-quarter guidance this week, demonstrating that the tech giant's advertising business continues to grow rapidly enough to support its massive AI expenditures. The company posted Q2 revenue of $47.52 billion, up 22% year-over-year and exceeding market expectations. Diluted earnings per share reached $7.14, representing a 38% year-over-year increase and also beating expectations.

Meta Platforms forecasts third-quarter revenue between $47.5 billion and $50.5 billion, with the midpoint of this range surpassing analysts' average expectation of $46.2 billion. Additionally, the company raised the lower end of its 2025 capital expenditure forecast as it continues substantial investments in talent, infrastructure, data centers, and energy to maintain competitiveness in the rapidly evolving AI race. The company currently expects this year's spending to range between $66 billion and $72 billion, an upward revision from April projections amid ongoing trade disputes and AI investments.

Meta Platforms indicated that costs will continue growing at an accelerated pace next year, particularly with increased spending on infrastructure development and employee compensation. Hargreaves Lansdown equity analyst Matt Britzman commented: "All this spending will impact the company's profitability in the short term, but in the long run, Meta Platforms is positioned to be a clear winner in the artificial intelligence space." He noted that Meta Platforms delivered "exceptionally strong" second-quarter performance, partly due to AI improvements enabling the company to increase average advertising prices.