CoreWeave CEO sells nearly $1 billion in stock as AI cloud company’s bond yields surge past 15%

CoreWeave CEO Michael Intrator and entities tied to him have sold nearly $1 billion in company stock since the AI cloud provider went public in March 2025, Reuters reported. The disclosure comes as CoreWeave faces growing pressure from investors, with yields on some of its corporate bonds surging above 15% amid fears that the AI infrastructure boom is becoming dangerously dependent on debt.

The timing puts one of Wall Street’s most closely watched AI infrastructure companies under fresh scrutiny. CoreWeave’s shares have fallen sharply from their June 2025 peak and were heading for a weekly loss of roughly 24% on Friday. Investors are questioning whether the company’s aggressive spending on data centers and Nvidia chips can generate enough cash to justify its mounting financial obligations.

According to Reuters, Intrator and affiliated entities, including Omnadora Capital and two trusts, sold more than 10 million shares. The sales began roughly two months after CoreWeave’s stock reached its record high in June 2025.

“CoreWeave CEO Michael Intrator and entities linked to him have sold nearly $1 billion of stock, mostly under prearranged trading ​plans, since the AI cloud company’s IPO in March ‌last year,” Reuters reported, citing regulatory filings.

Most of the transactions were executed under prearranged trading plans, which allow corporate executives to sell shares according to schedules established in advance. Such transactions do not necessarily indicate concerns about a company’s future performance. Approximately $40 million in additional sales were made to cover taxes associated with vested stock.

Meanwhile, the filings provide no evidence that Intrator’s sales were prompted by CoreWeave’s recent financial troubles. Yet the nearly $1 billion figure is attracting attention as investors reassess the cost of financing the AI boom.

CoreWeave’s debt troubles raise bigger questions about the AI infrastructure boom

The bigger concern may be unfolding in the bond market.

CoreWeave’s 9.75% corporate bonds maturing in 2031 reached a yield of 15.78% on Thursday, according to CNBC. Bond yields rise as prices fall, meaning investors are demanding significantly higher returns to hold the company’s debt. Yields at these levels suggest substantial concern about credit risk, although they do not mean default is inevitable.

The selloff exposes a growing tension at the center of CoreWeave’s business model. Demand for AI computing remains strong, yet building the infrastructure to serve that demand requires enormous amounts of capital.

Founded in 2017 as a cryptocurrency mining business, CoreWeave reinvented itself as a specialized AI cloud provider after the crypto downturn. It now leases high-performance Nvidia GPUs to companies developing and deploying artificial intelligence systems.

That transformation turned CoreWeave into a major supplier of AI computing capacity, attracting customers including Microsoft, Meta, IBM, and Cohere.

The company has accumulated a revenue backlog exceeding $129 billion, suggesting substantial contracted future business. In August, CoreWeave increased its annual capital expenditure forecast to between $35 billion and $39 billion, reflecting the extraordinary costs of building facilities and acquiring computing equipment.

But backlog is not cash in the bank. Revenue tied to long-term contracts arrives over time, even as spending on chips, facilities, and financing obligations demands substantial cash today.

That mismatch is becoming harder for investors to ignore.

CoreWeave’s leadership has pushed back against the market’s concerns. In an internal memo reported by CNBC, Intrator defended the company’s financial position.

“We are confident in our backlog, which more than supports all of our debt obligations.”

The turbulence is reaching beyond CoreWeave. Investors are scrutinizing other heavily indebted AI infrastructure companies, raising questions about how long aggressive borrowing can support the industry’s growth.

For CoreWeave, the stakes are particularly high. Its business depends on turning expensive computing infrastructure into profitable, sustained demand before financing costs overwhelm the benefits of growth.

The company has already demonstrated that customers are willing to commit billions to AI infrastructure. What remains uncertain is whether those commitments will translate into enough cash, quickly enough, to satisfy increasingly nervous creditors.

That may be the bigger story behind CoreWeave’s selloff: Wall Street is no longer asking only how much AI infrastructure companies can build. It is asking whether they can afford what they have already promised.