Meta is preparing for a leadership transition in its infrastructure division as the company pushes ahead with large-scale data center expansion to support its artificial intelligence plans. The change comes as investors pay closer attention to capital spending and cash flow at the social media group and other hyperscale operators.
Highlights
- Meta’s head of infrastructure Santosh Janardhan will step down in 2027, with David Brown taking over formal responsibility after joining in July.
- David Brown, formerly of AWS, will also serve as chief technical officer of Meta Compute as the company advances AI infrastructure initiatives under new technical leadership.
- Meta expects 2024 capital expenditure of $135 billion to $145 billion and reported negative free cash flow of $2.12 billion, prompting S&P Global to revise Meta’s credit outlook to negative in October.
Leadership transition and succession plan
As first reported by CNBC, Santosh Janardhan says in an internal memo obtained by the outlet that he will leave Meta in 2027 after serving as head of infrastructure and co-head of engineering. Janardhan, who has been with Meta since 2009, says he will support David Brown through the first quarter of 2027 as part of the transition.
Brown, a former Amazon Web Services senior vice president, joined Meta in July and is set to assume formal responsibility for the company’s infrastructure operations. In the memo, Janardhan says it is the right time for Brown to lead the next phase of priority-setting, citing his experience building and operating dependable infrastructure for demanding workloads.
Data center expansion faces investor scrutiny
The management change highlights Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg’s effort to place newer leaders over Meta’s technical operations as the company expands data center capacity. Brown is also set to serve as chief technical officer of the Meta Compute initiative, led by Meta president and vice chairman Dina Powell McCormick and technical leader Daniel Gross, as the company builds infrastructure for its AI ambitions.
Meta says in its recent third-quarter earnings report that it expects full-year capital expenditure of $135 billion to $145 billion. The company also posts negative free cash flow of $2.12 billion, a factor S&P Global Ratings notes in late October when it revises Meta’s credit outlook to negative from stable while affirming the AA- rating.
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