u/thelastsubject123

The headline from Meta’s Q2 report was technically brutal: free cash flow collapsed 91% year over year, from $8.55B to just $784M.

That makes it sound like Meta’s money printer broke. But operating cash flow (the cash generated by the business before capital spending) actually increased 24.6%, from $25.56B to $31.86B.

The difference was capex.

Revenue grew 28%. Operating cash flow grew nearly 25%. Free cash flow collapsed because capital spending nearly doubled. The operating margin decline from 43% to 31% looks equally alarming at first. But approximately half of that compression came from $2.4B of legal charges and $1.18B of severance expenses. Had they not incurred those charges, operating income would've grown 9.4%.

The advertising engine still looks strong:

• Ad impressions increased 14%.
• Average price per ad increased 12%.
• Together, that produces approximately 27.7% growth, almost exactly matching reported revenue growth.
• Meta says its newer ranking models increased Facebook ad clicks by 8.3% and conversions by 15.7%.

The interesting part is that price growth is holding up even as impression growth decelerates. That suggests advertisers are paying more because Meta’s inventory is producing better results, rather than Meta simply stuffing more ads into feeds.

Free cash flow will probably remain near zero for several more quarters. But if operating cash flow and ad pricing continue growing while capex eventually moderates, free cash flow should reappear mechanically. The current valuation is giving less credit to that possibility than I think it should.

The headline from Meta’s Q2 report was technically brutal: free cash flow collapsed 91% year over year, from $8.55B to just $784M.

That makes it sound like Meta’s money printer broke. But operating cash flow (the cash generated by the business before capital spending) actually increased 24.6%, from $25.56B to $31.86B.

The difference was capex.

Revenue grew 28%. Operating cash flow grew nearly 25%. Free cash flow collapsed because capital spending nearly doubled. The operating margin decline from 43% to 31% looks equally alarming at first. But approximately half of that compression came from $2.4B of legal charges and $1.18B of severance expenses. Had they not incurred those charges, operating income would've grown 9.4%.

The advertising engine still looks strong:

• Ad impressions increased 14%.
• Average price per ad increased 12%.
• Together, that produces approximately 27.7% growth, almost exactly matching reported revenue growth.
• Meta says its newer ranking models increased Facebook ad clicks by 8.3% and conversions by 15.7%.

The interesting part is that price growth is holding up even as impression growth decelerates. That suggests advertisers are paying more because Meta’s inventory is producing better results, rather than Meta simply stuffing more ads into feeds.

Free cash flow will probably remain near zero for several more quarters. But if operating cash flow and ad pricing continue growing while capex eventually moderates, free cash flow should reappear mechanically. The current valuation is giving less credit to that possibility than I think it should.

The headline from Meta’s Q2 report was technically brutal: free cash flow collapsed 91% year over year, from $8.55B to just $784M.

That makes it sound like Meta’s money printer broke. But operating cash flow (the cash generated by the business before capital spending) actually increased 24.6%, from $25.56B to $31.86B.

The difference was capex.

Revenue grew 28%. Operating cash flow grew nearly 25%. Free cash flow collapsed because capital spending nearly doubled. The operating margin decline from 43% to 31% looks equally alarming at first. But approximately half of that compression came from $2.4B of legal charges and $1.18B of severance expenses. Had they not incurred those charges, operating income would've grown 9.4%.

The advertising engine still looks strong:

• Ad impressions increased 14%.
• Average price per ad increased 12%.
• Together, that produces approximately 27.7% growth, almost exactly matching reported revenue growth.
• Meta says its newer ranking models increased Facebook ad clicks by 8.3% and conversions by 15.7%.

The interesting part is that price growth is holding up even as impression growth decelerates. That suggests advertisers are paying more because Meta’s inventory is producing better results, rather than Meta simply stuffing more ads into feeds.

Free cash flow will probably remain near zero for several more quarters. But if operating cash flow and ad pricing continue growing while capex eventually moderates, free cash flow should reappear mechanically. The current valuation is giving less credit to that possibility than I think it should.

EDIT: thank you everyone for taking the time to comment. Your words have reaffirmed my choice to ditch any fantasy of saving and having the guts to happily move on to a new office. To clarify, my work ebbs and flows, sometimes it’s insanely busy and sometimes it’s chill and that’s just by design. I’m still a very high performer and I’ve created a lot of things for my office that have significant cost savings that had never been crossed my boss’ minds. I did try to quit 4 times but they kept giving me raises but looks like this is the one. On to better things :)

Roughly 3 months ago, I was passed up for a raise. I was extremely upset as I had spent months communicating and implementing new things that would save the office hundreds of thousands of dollars. I currently make 70k and asked for a raise to 80k given the significant savings (these were not hypothetical, they're already benefitting from things I implemented).

I was obviously very upset and eventually found a much better paying job. It offers ~95k along with benefits (health insurance at 50% coverage on their end), 401k w/ 3% match of salary.

My current comp is just 70k with no benefits other than 401k w/ no match. On the surface, this is obviously a no brainer. The only consideration is my current workload is next to nothing. Half the time is spent with me just tinkering with AI (which is how i developed the significant cost savings) and teaching myself new skills. In addition, it's an office of just 10 employees and I have a close relationship with my boss as I've been there for 5 yrs and the commute is 20 minutes and very easy.

My other job will be an hr commute and I'll be part of an office with 200 employees. There'll be layers of bureaucracy. I've video interviewed the CEO twice and have only directly met managers in the office. In all honesty, my ideal scenario would be my boss just matching the 95k salary on the back of me leaving for another offer. I've already messaged my boss and told them we'll be sitting down for an urgent conversation on Monday so I'm sure they already know what's going on. How do I navigate the situation to imply there's room for them to offer to match?

My intention is just to be courteous and say I'm giving two weeks notice as I've received a "significantly higher compensating offer" and thank them for our years spent together and not sure where to go from there.

As title says, I'm looking for Starbucks Gift Cards at 65%, primary payment method is USDC but can do Zelle/Venmo if needed

Uber/Doordash at 75%, Amazon 80%

Lower flair goes first, paying with USDC

Location: NYC

Two weeks ago, I uncovered my employer underpaying all of his employees by slightly adjusting the time clock. It was so minute that I didn't realize it until I took a really close look one day. Something like 38 hours 46 minutes being changed to 38 hours 24 minutes.

I presented my case to my employers, sent them an email from my work email to make it clear that we've discussed this, and assumed in good faith nothing would happen. Fast forward to today, I was called in and was being told I had to go home for the day due to "insubordination" and "misconduct". I have no documented write ups and have been a star performer for the past five years. As I was attempting to extract the data for that email I sent to my office manager and the owner of the business, my email privileges have been revoked and I can no longer access my work email (stupid of me to send it from my work email, I'm aware).

I am paid hourly, am a W2 worker. Gemini says I have a good shot at filing for unemployment + retaliation/wrongful termination irrespective of what they claim I have done.

That being said, I do have a screenshot of the email but do not have the time stamp in the email. I am still going ahead and filing my complaint but can they just claim they didn't receive this email? What should I do moving forward?

Location: NYC

Two weeks ago, I uncovered my employer underpaying all of his employees by slightly adjusting the time clock. It was so minute that I didn't realize it until I took a really close look one day. Something like 38 hours 46 minutes being changed to 38 hours 24 minutes.

I presented my case to my employers, sent them an email from my work email to make it clear that we've discussed this, and assumed in good faith nothing would happen. Fast forward to today, I was called in and was being told I had to go home for the day due to "insubordination" and "misconduct". I have no documented write ups and have been a star performer for the past five years. As I was attempting to extract the data for that email I sent to my office manager and the owner of the business, my email privileges have been revoked and I can no longer access my work email (stupid of me to send it from my work email, I'm aware).

I am paid hourly, am a W2 worker. Gemini says I have a good shot at filing for unemployment + retaliation/wrongful termination irrespective of what they claim I have done.

That being said, I do have a screenshot of the email but do not have the time stamp in the email. I am still going ahead and filing my complaint but can they just claim they didn't receive this email? What should I do moving forward?

Location: NYC

Two weeks ago, I uncovered my employer underpaying all of his employees by slightly adjusting the time clock. It was so minute that I didn't realize it until I took a really close look one day. Something like 38 hours 46 minutes being changed to 38 hours 24 minutes.

I presented my case to my employers, sent them an email from my work email to make it clear that we've discussed this, and assumed in good faith nothing would happen. Fast forward to today, I was called in and was being told I had to go home for the day due to "insubordination" and "misconduct". I have no documented write ups and have been a star performer for the past five years. As I was attempting to extract the data for that email I sent to my office manager and the owner of the business, my email privileges have been revoked and I can no longer access my work email (stupid of me to send it from my work email, I'm aware).

I am paid hourly, am a W2 worker. Gemini says I have a good shot at filing for unemployment + retaliation/wrongful termination irrespective of what they claim I have done.

That being said, I do have a screenshot of the email but do not have the time stamp in the email. I am still going ahead and filing my complaint but can they just claim they didn't receive this email? What should I do moving forward?

Hey everyone could use some advice for what shoe to buy my mom. She’s a 70 year old woman who typically just does Zumba/ light treadmill and yoga at the gym. She also gardens and does light walks all the time. Research is telling me on clouds would be great for her and I’ve already bought her hokas. Would appreciate an enthusiast’s perspective. Thank you!

Hey everyone could use some advice for what shoe to buy my mom. She’s a 70 year old woman who typically just does Zumba/ light treadmill and yoga at the gym. She also gardens and does light walks all the time. Research is telling me on clouds would be great for her and I’ve already bought her hokas. Would appreciate an enthusiast’s perspective. Thank you!

3Q26 Results:

4Q26 Guidance: