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Meta says it will issue new non-voting shares to fund AI push

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Meta says it will issue new non-voting shares to fund AI push

Meta said it is issuing a new class of shares to fund its AI initiatives. The announcement came with the company's third-quarter earnings report, released on Wednesday. The shares are non-voting, and trading is due to begin in 2027. Beyond AI, Meta says the stock will also go toward potential acquisitions and employee compensation.

Meta's press release framed the move as a matter of scale: "The scale of investment required to compete, sustain growth, expand infrastructure, and pursue new strategic initiatives amidst the AI transformation taking place in the industry is significant." Susan Li, Meta's chief financial officer, said on the earnings call that the new class of shares will "expand our funding tools and give us flexibility to invest behind the unprecedented momentum we’re seeing across every part of our business driven by AI."

The Verge puts the announcement against Meta's spending. The company has poured billions of dollars into the AI race: it is building (and promoting) sprawling data centers, poaching top talent from companies like OpenAI, and building AI models meant to rival those of other tech giants. It now expects capital expenditures of between $135 billion and $145 billion this year, up from the previous estimate of $130 billion to $145 billion.

The report also covers Meta's recent product activity. Meta launched its AI agent, Muse, in September. Like other AI agents, Muse can clean out an email inbox, book restaurant reservations and plan trips. The Muse app shot to the top of app stores soon after launch and hit 10 million downloads in the US this week. Meta also rolled out its Muse Wonder model this week.

Muse's launch has had snags, amid concerns about user privacy. A tech YouTuber reported that the agent gave out his address to a stranger on Facebook Marketplace. Meta has also had to pause Muse's conversation-sharing feature after researchers discovered chats publicly available on the web.

Key facts

  • Meta is creating a new class of non-voting shares, announced with its third-quarter earnings report on Wednesday; trading begins in 2027.
  • The stock is meant to fund AI initiatives and will also go toward potential acquisitions and employee compensation.
  • Meta now expects capital expenditures of $135 billion to $145 billion this year, up from a previous estimate of $130 billion to $145 billion.
  • CFO Susan Li said the shares will expand Meta's funding tools and give it flexibility to invest in AI-driven momentum.
  • The Muse AI agent, launched in September, reached 10 million US downloads this week, but has had privacy problems including a paused conversation-sharing feature.

Why it matters

Meta is changing how it can pay for AI, not only how much it spends. Its own press release says the investment needed to compete amid the AI transformation is significant, and the capex outlook of $135 billion to $145 billion this year, raised at the bottom end from $130 billion to $145 billion, shows the scale. A new share class is a new funding tool, which is how Susan Li described it. The same stock is also earmarked for potential acquisitions and employee compensation, so the plan covers more than data centers.

Who it affects

Meta itself, first: the company gets another way to fund AI infrastructure, deals and pay. Employees are named as a use of the stock, since it will go toward employee compensation. The source does not say how the new class affects voting control or existing shareholders. On the product side, the Muse coverage touches app users, including the privacy cases described: a YouTuber whose address was given to a stranger, and users whose shared chats turned up publicly on the web.

How to use it

There is nothing for a reader to adopt here. This is a corporate financing announcement, and trading in the new shares is not due to begin until 2027. The source does not name the class or give a price. The Muse agent mentioned in the report is a consumer app that can clean out an email inbox, book restaurant reservations and plan trips.

How solid is it

The core facts come from Meta's own earnings release and the earnings call, as reported by The Verge. The quotes are attributed to Meta's press release and to CFO Susan Li. The Muse privacy incidents are less firmly established: the address case is the account of a tech YouTuber, reported by The Verge, and the exposed chats were found by researchers; Meta's pause of conversation sharing is stated by The Verge.

Risks and caveats

Key details are not given. The source does not say how many shares will be created, how much money they are expected to raise, what the class is called, or what it costs. It gives no split between AI funding, acquisitions and employee compensation, and no reaction from investors, analysts or markets. It does not say whether the quarter's results were good or bad. The capex figure is described only as 'this year'. On Muse, privacy concerns remain part of the story around the agent's launch.

“expand our funding tools and give us flexibility to invest behind the unprecedented momentum we’re seeing across every part of our business driven by AI”

— Susan Li, Meta's chief financial officer, on the earnings call