Meta's strong earnings report sent its stock soaring after hours. The company also made it clear that the AI talent wars come with a hefty price tag.

Meta Platforms shares surged after the social-media company blew out second-quarter earnings expectations Wednesday afternoon.Along with Alphabet’s second-quarter earnings report last week, Meta’s release reveals a lot of strength in digital advertising,

Meta posted a second-quarter profit that beat expectations by a wide margin, and revenue that topped forecasts for a 12th-straight quarter, as active users, ad impressions and ad prices all rose. The company also provided a revenue outlook for the current quarter that was better than forecast.