The negotiations started as just one billionaire tech founder talking to another. Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg approached Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang in mid-April about a potentially industry-shaking deal.

Google is reportedly cutting ties with Scale AI after Meta acquired a 49% stake in the data-labeling startup, according to Benzinga. Google was previously Scale AI’s largest customer, and it is reportedly planning to end its relationship with the company.

Scale AI co-founder Alexandr Wang is such an enthusiastic networker that his former roommate — OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman — once jokingly told him to tone it down a bit.Fortunately for Wang,

Meta is betting big on a new superintelligence lab, luring talent with massive paychecks and bringing in Scale AI’s Alexandr Wang—but insiders warn that deep internal dysfunction could sabotage the effort.

The parent company of Facebook is investing $14.3 billion in Scale AI, which offers a platform and training data for developing AI models.

Meta Platforms is reportedly acquiring a 49% stake in Scale AI, a leading data labeling company that powers many AI applications, as CEO Mark Zuckerberg seeks to strengthen Meta’s position in the competitive artificial intelligence landscape.

It’s easily the most expensive hire of all time, dwarfing the billions that Google spent to rehire Noam Shazeer and his core team from Character.AI (a deal Zuckerberg passed on). “Opportunities of this magnitude often come at a cost,” Wang wrote in his note to employees this week. “In this instance, that cost is my departure.”

(Reuters) -Facebook owner Meta's $14.8 billion investment in Scale AI and hiring of the data-labeling startup's CEO will test how the Trump administration views so-called acquihire deals, which some have criticized as an attempt to evade regulatory scrutiny.