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Mark Zuckerberg Spends $15 Billion To Bring 28‑Year‑Old AI Wunderkind Into Meta
Given that Meta apparently spent well under $15 billion to acquire its newest employee, Mark Zuckerberg may be making significant strides in the field of artificial intelligence.
Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, is now in charge of Meta, which has expanded to include WhatsApp, Instagram, and other social media platforms. Despite having an outstanding $242.3 billion in the bank, Zuckerberg, the third-richest man in the world, must be a really special person to pay $15 billion to get one individual on the team. However, what makes Alexandr Wang so crucial to Meta’s future, and who is he?
Who is Alexandr Wang?
Alexandr Wang’s appointment is related to artificial intelligence, as is the case with most things in the computer industry these days. Wang is credited as a co-founder of Scale AI, a data labelling business in which Meta has invested $14.3 billion in a 49% stake, according to Reuters. According to a statement from Meta confirming his appointment but not revealing the financial terms of the agreement, Wang is expected to play a significant role in the company’s AI future: “We will deepen the work we do together producing data for AI models and Alexandr Wang will join Meta to work on our superintelligence efforts.”
Wang is set to head a new superintelligence unit, according to a different source, however Meta did not immediately answer enquiries.
With Zuckerberg pushing heavily into AI in 2025, Wang is tipped to lead the 50-person team and rival the likes of Google and OpenAI’s AI ventures. Writing to Scale employees, the company co-founder said, “I started this company right out of freshman year of MIT and never looked back. I wouldn’t change a minute of it.”
After working as a software engineer at asset management firm Addepar, the 28-year-old Wang, who left the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to start Scale, immediately rose to prominence as one of Silicon Valley’s brightest young minds. In April 2025, Forbes projected Wang’s net worth to be $3.6 billion, making him the youngest self-made billionaire in history at the age of just 24.
Why is Alexandr Wang important to Meta?
Significantly, Wang has established connections with people like Sam Altman of OpenAI, landed a big client in the federal government, and presented testimony at a House Armed Services subcommittee hearing regarding the difficulties and possible solutions the government may have when implementing AI.
After raising $1 billion last year from investors like Amazon and Meta, Wang said the idea of leaving was originally ‘unimaginable’. He went on to say, “But as I spent time truly considering it, I realized this was a deeply unique moment, not just for me, but for Scale as well.”
According to Scale, the acquisition is worth $29 billion, and Jason Droege, the chief strategy officer, would take over as interim CEO. Even though Wang is expected to stay on the board and Meta isn’t taking a seat, some of Scale’s 1,500 workers will follow him to Meta.
At a cost of $14.3 billion, this is Meta’s second-largest investment ever, after its 2014 acquisition of WhatsApp.
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