What happened and which deals mattered
Pimco was a major force in 2025's AI borrowing spree, committing billions that helped set the pace for a market flood. Its centerpiece move was anchoring about $18 billion of financing that allowed Meta Platforms to fund a large Louisiana data center without loading its own balance sheet.
That blueprint carried into other projects. The firm also supported Oracle's massive Michigan data center campus, with Bloomberg reporting Pimco backed $10 billion across its funds. As an anchor, it secured the Oracle bonds at a meaningful discount to the official price, which a person familiar with the matter said cushioned potential losses.
How Pimco managed its exposure
After helping kick off the binge, the bond giant pulled back on some of its biggest positions, in some cases only months after buying. Filings show Pimco now holds about 50 percent less of both the Meta and Oracle stakes, with people familiar saying it sold down the rest when the notes traded higher.
On the Meta financing known as Beignet, one of the people said Pimco sold about $3 billion of bonds six to eight months after purchase, at a time when the debt was above par. In the early months post pricing, the notes climbed past 110 cents per dollar.
Oracle's Michigan bonds were sold at 98.7 cents on the dollar and initially gained, then slipped to around 88 cents, according to Trace. Despite trimming, Pimco remains among the largest holders of both the Louisiana and Michigan bonds, whose prices have fallen in recent weeks.
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What Pimco skipped - and where it still played
The firm has turned more cautious on AI risk even as it remains a major player. Earlier this year, the firm sat out a sizable deal tied to Broadcom Inc. and Anthropic PBC; according to people familiar, it also passed on SoftBank Group's roughly $11 billion junk bond and on Oracle-linked financing targeting a New Mexico data center.
Yet Pimco still leaned into select deals. Bloomberg reported it bought a $4 billion piece of a large SpaceX financing that will help expand SpaceX's AI ambitions. Moves like this have placed Pimco alongside Blackstone Inc. and Apollo Global Management Inc. in shaping how some of the market's largest financings are structured. A Pimco representative declined to comment.
The market backdrop and why it matters
In the past few weeks, several sizable AI offerings - Broadcom's among them - have declined in price, with quotes hovering around 96 cents on the dollar. AI companies have telegraphed huge spending plans for data centers and chips, prompting some investors to flag exuberance and draw comparisons to the run up before the dot com crash.
Last week, Meta's shares declined after Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg informed investors it plans to pursue AI even more aggressively. Last week, five year credit protection on Meta reached a new high, as investors braced for the company potentially taking on more debt or related obligations.
Views on the cycle diverge. Last week, Citadel founder Ken Griffin said that companies are still determining how much they will spend on AI and what the economic impact could be. Blackstone President Jon Gray offered a different framing after quarterly results, saying, "When you think about a bubble, you think about building capacity and then hoping the demand comes." He added, "With AI, you're building capacity, and you're hoping you can keep up with the demand."
The bottom line: Pimco helped ignite the AI debt party, then trimmed exposure while prices softened, all while the private credit universe it often critiques has swelled past $1.8 trillion. For your portfolio, it is a reminder that even headline AI financings can be volatile, and the biggest bond buyers are already picking their spots.
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