Nebius Shares Hit Fresh Record as $643 Million AI Deal and Meta Contract Reshape the Cloud Player

Nebius Group surges 14% to record $179.40 after acquiring Eigen AI for $643M, backed by $50B in contracts and partnerships with Meta, Nvidia, and Microsoft.

The Nebius Group is writing a new chapter in its corporate story, and investors are buying in aggressively. The stock surged 14 percent on Monday to an all-time high of $179.40, a move that stood out against a largely flat broader market. Trading volumes hit roughly 25 million shares, well above the daily average, signaling that institutional money is piling in ahead of a critical earnings report.

At the heart of the rally is a transformative acquisition. Nebius is paying $643 million for Eigen AI, a 20-person startup that specializes in optimizing open-source models from the likes of Meta and Alibaba. The deal marks a strategic pivot: Nebius is shedding its pure infrastructure provider label and stepping into the higher-margin platform business. The purchase is mostly stock-based, with only about $98 million in cash changing hands. Founders and employees will initially receive just 15 percent of their shares, with the remainder vesting over four years — a structure designed to keep the team intact. Eigen AI's CEO, Ryan Hanrui Wang, will lead a new research hub in San Francisco.

The company's order book provides the financial heft to back this ambition. Nebius is sitting on contracts worth nearly $50 billion. A five-year agreement with Meta, signed in March, could be worth around $27 billion, with $12 billion already locked in for capacity. Nvidia is doubling down as well, investing $2 billion in Nebius, with the two partners targeting a massive joint computing buildout by 2030. Microsoft is also a key customer, with deliveries already underway — the first two capacity tranches have been handed over, and seven more are scheduled through the end of 2026.

A new distribution partnership with TD SYNNEX adds another growth lever. Instead of chasing clients one by one, Nebius will now supply AI infrastructure through a global channel, promising more predictable revenue streams.

The financials are already reflecting the momentum. Fourth-quarter revenue jumped 547 percent, and annual recurring revenue hit $1.2 billion, beating internal forecasts. Management is guiding for a sixfold revenue increase this year, targeting more than $3 billion.

Analyst opinions remain divided. Goldman Sachs recently lifted its price target to $205 with a buy rating. Wolfe Research initiated coverage with a "Peer Perform" rating and a fair-value range of $80 to $170 — a wide spread that captures both the opportunity and the execution risk. The consensus among 12 analysts is a buy, with an average target of $163. Skeptics point to the stock trading at 47 times trailing revenue and insider sales worth millions over recent months.

The next test comes on May 13, when Nebius reports first-quarter results. The market is looking for revenue growth of around 600 percent. The focus will be on operating margins, pricing power, and whether the aggressive infrastructure spending is translating into the promised top-line explosion.