# Slok Sees Revenue and Margin Gains Concentrated in the Magnificent Seven By John Kim Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/business/40314 Published: 2026-10-24T20:30:56.000Z Updated: 2026-10-24T20:30:56.000Z Section: Business > He said the same measures were flat across the S&P 500’s other 493 companies and saw no signs of AI lifting productivity growth. Apollo Chief Economist Torsten Slok said the AI buildout’s business case depends on returns, as revenue per worker and margins rose among the Magnificent Seven but stayed flat for the S&P 500’s other 493 companies. Slok said Oct. 24 that he saw no signs of AI lifting productivity growth. The figures compare aggregate trends and do not isolate AI’s effect at individual companies or establish that AI caused the gap. Slok said Oct. 20, “The core economic flaw in the AI bull case is that the marginal cost of producing compute exceeds the marginal benefit it delivers to users.” He argued that companies’ returns from AI will shape how much computing power and data center capacity they need. Token spending showed virtually no growth in August and September, then reached 1.5% above its previous August peak at the start of October. In a comparison between the weeks ending Sept. 13 and Oct. 11, spending rose 23%, while token volume climbed 52.4%. The blended price for OpenAI and Anthropic tokens fell 25.4% to $0.64 per million over those weeks. The figures cover a subset of businesses using AI token-spending tools. They track usage and price, not whether companies earn enough from AI to cover infrastructure costs. Meta’s third-quarter results offer a company-level counterpoint. Revenue rose 26% year over year to $64.60 billion, and the company said AI investments were already contributing incremental advertising revenue through stronger engagement, recommendations and monetization. Meta did not disclose a separate dollar amount for the AI contribution. After mentioning Meta’s new AI models, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, “Our investments are paying off, the core business is strong, and we're seeing velocity across the board.” Meta reported $34.91 billion in third-quarter capital expenditures, including principal payments on finance leases, alongside $32.79 billion in operating cash flow and negative free cash flow of $2.12 billion. Its 2026 capital expenditure outlook is $135 billion to $145 billion. The spending totals include Meta’s core business as well as AI. The figures add context to [earlier coverage of AI-stock caution and data center financing strains](). ## Links in this article - [earlier coverage of AI-stock caution and data center financing strains](https://www.tokenpost.com/news/investing/39729)