Meta reports better-than-expected quarterly results, plans new Class C shares for AI expansion
Meta announced plans to issue new non-voting Class C common shares in January to support large-scale AI expansion. The company reported quarterly earnings per share of $3.83 and revenue of $64.6 billion, both beating expectations.
Meta announced on 22 October that it will issue new non-voting Class C common shares in January to support its large-scale artificial intelligence (AI) expansion plans. The company plans to distribute the shares as a one-time stock dividend, granting one Class C share for every Class A or Class B share held, effectively a 2-for-1 stock split that does not alter shareholders' voting rights.
Meta reported quarterly earnings per share of $3.83 and revenue of $64.6 billion, up 26 per cent year-on-year, both exceeding market expectations. Free cash flow for the quarter was negative $2.12 billion, compared with positive $10.63 billion in the same period last year.
The company raised the lower end of its full-year spending forecast and now expects capital expenditure in 2026 to be between $135 billion and $145 billion. Meta forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $73 billion to $76 billion, compared with the market consensus of $73.73 billion.
Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said that in the past month and a half, more than 10 million people in the United States and Canada have opened accounts for the AI assistant application Muse. He predicted that Muse would eventually serve billions of people, and that revenue generated by those users could be higher than the average for Meta's regular users.