By Callum Keown

Meta Platforms stock held steady early Friday after falling late in the previous session following a report that the Facebook parent is delaying the rollout of its new artificial intelligence model.

The release of Meta's Behemoth large-language model was initially internally slated for April before it was pushed to June, but now the target has been delayed to the fall or later, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

The shares fell 2.4% Thursday and were flat in premarket trading Friday. The stock looks to be stabilizing following the losses, suggesting the delay may not have a huge impact on the price. Meta remains 10% higher in 2025 through Thursday's close -- the best performer in the Magnificent Seven group.

Engineers are struggling to improve the model's capabilities, leading to questions from staff over whether Behemoth has enough improvements over previous versions to justify a public release, the report added.

The tech giant, like its peers, is spending billions of dollars on developing AI offerings. Meta increased its 2025 capital expenditures forecast to a range of $64 billion to $72 billion at the end of last month, up from between $60 billion and $65 billion.

Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Friday.

Separately, Meta asked a federal judge to dismiss the Federal Trade Commission's case alleging it run an illegal social media monopoly Thursday, Reuters reported. The antitrust trial, relating to Meta's acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram, began last month.

Write to Callum Keown at callum.keown@dowjones.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

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May 16, 2025 05:14 ET (09:14 GMT)

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