Meta's Capital Plan: New Stock Class to Fund AI Expansion

Meta Platforms is preparing to issue a new category of shares to bankroll its aggressive expansion into artificial intelligence technology. The company confirmed reports on Wednesday that it intends to distribute non-voting stock to its existing shareholders as a dividend, a move designed to raise funds without diluting control for those who currently own voting shares. The announcement arrived alongside the company's third-quarter financial results.

Susan Li, the chief financial officer, detailed the plan during the earnings call. She stated the company plans to "create a new class of non-voting capital stock, which will be distributed to all existing shareholders through a stock dividend." Li explained that these new instruments are intended to be "usable for capital raising, employee compensation, acquisitions, and other general corporate purposes while preserving the voting power of existing Class A and B shareholders." This approach allows the organization to maintain its "founder-led structure" while expanding its "funding tools" to support investment in its rapidly growing business.

The financial news comes as Meta reported strong performance for the third quarter of 2026. Revenue reached $64 billion, marking a 26% increase compared to the same period last year. However, spending also accelerated, with costs and expenses climbing 68% year-over-year. Within that spending, the Reality Labs division, which develops augmented reality glasses and virtual reality hardware, continues to operate at a loss, though the company projects these losses will decline from 2025 levels to a range between $18 billion and $19 billion.

The capital raise is directly tied to the company's heavy investment in AI. Over the past year, Meta has released several AI models, including Muse Spark and Muse Glimmer earlier in 2026. In recent weeks, the company added Muse Wonder and Muse Spark Open, an open-weight model whose parameters are public for outside use. It has also launched a coding agent for software developers called Muse Code. At its recent Meta Connect event, the company announced a new line of avatars for the AI assistant Meta Muse, aiming to make the service more relatable.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg reported on the adoption of these tools during the call. He stated that "in just a month and a half, more than 10 million people in the U.S. and Canada have set up Muse personal agents." He noted that growth remains strong and that the product has ranked number one in the App Store almost every day. "Now that Muse has clear product-market fit, we are entering a new phase," he added, describing the current stage as operational and focused on scaling the technology. He asserted the company expects the product to eventually "serve billions of people."

Despite the growth, the company acknowledged ongoing risks regarding legal and regulatory matters. Li stated, "We continue to monitor active legal and regulatory matters that could significantly impact our business and financial results." She highlighted specific scrutiny regarding youth-related issues in several markets and noted that several youth-related trials are scheduled to take place in the United States in the coming months.

The next steps involve the actual distribution of these shares and the continuation of the company's AI rollout. With the stock dividend mechanism in place to support funding, the company is positioned to pursue further acquisitions and capital raising while keeping its current voting structure stable as it attempts to scale its AI services.