Scale AI CEO confirms move to Meta in $14.3 billion deal

Alexander Wang, founder and CEO of Scale AI, has announced that he is leaving his position and joining Meta . The move is part of a larger deal between the companies: Meta will invest $14.3 billion in the startup, taking a 49% stake but no voting rights. This was revealed in an internal memo from Wang, which he also posted on the X platform.

“As you've probably gathered from recent news, opportunities of this magnitude often come at a cost. In this instance, that cost is my departure. It has been the absolute greatest pleasure of my life to serve as your CEO,” Wang wrote.

Jason Droge , previously the company’s chief strategy officer, will be the new CEO of Scale AI. He was previously a venture partner at Benchmark and a vice president at Uber. A small group of Scale AI employees will join Meta along with Wang.

Meta confirmed a strategic partnership with Scale AI, noting that the new collaboration will “deepen our work on building data for AI models.” Wang will join Meta to work on initiatives in the field of superintelligence, a key area that CEO Mark Zuckerberg has declared a priority for 2025.

Meta has been trying to solidify its position in the AI space in recent months amid growing competition from OpenAI and Alphabet . Zuckerberg was unhappy with the pace of internal development, especially after the muted response to the new Llama model. So he decided to bring in Wang to give the projects a new impetus.

Despite the partnership, Scale AI has assured that Meta will not have access to customer data, and that work with other customers — including Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI — will continue as usual. Meta remains one of Scale AI’s largest customers.