Five major US tech companies are hiding an estimated $1.65 trillion in off-balance-sheet debt, raising concerns about financial transparency and potential risks.

Five US tech giants — Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Oracle — are hiding an estimated $1.65 trillion in debt that doesn’t appear on balance sheets. That’s even more than the $1.35 trillion in debt the five companies officially reported in their financial data for the most recent quarter. Meta alone has amassed around $420 billion in off-balance-sheet debt, according to Nikkei, highlighting how precarious the AI industry’s steep investment in AI has become, and inspiring comparisons to energy company Enron, which collapsed in spectacular fashion in 2001 because of similar debts hidden behind shell companies. Like Enron, they’re using special purpose vehicles, or off-balance sheet arrangements such as legally distinct subsidiaries, as a way to make their financial reporting look healthier than it actually is — often a glaring sign that something is deeply amiss behind the scenes. “The accounting treatment itself is in fashion,” technical accounting consultant Tom Selling told Bloomberg. “But what if one of these companies was a house of cards and was propping itself up with this accounting treatment? To me, that’s the risk.” Experts continue to warn of an AI bubble, noting the enormous and widening gulf between company valuations and their comparatively measly profits. The latest news will do little to quiet critics who say the situation is more dire than the companies’ official balance sheets suggest. https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-companies-hide-debt-off-balance-sheet

"As Japanese financial newspaper Nikkei Asia found in a recent investigation, just five US tech giants — Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Oracle — are hiding an estimated $1.65 trillion in debt that doesn’t appear on balance sheets." https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-companies-hide-debt-off-balance-sheet