Meta Plans New Non-Voting Share Class to Fund AI Expansion

Meta is creating a new class of non-voting stock to help finance its push into artificial intelligence, the company confirmed during its third-quarter earnings call.

Chief financial officer Susan Li said the shares will be distributed to existing shareholders through a stock dividend. The new class is meant to give the company a publicly traded non-voting stock it can use for raising capital, employee compensation and acquisitions, while preserving the voting power of current Class A and B shareholders. Li said the move maintains Meta's founder-led structure and expands its funding tools.

The quarter was strong, with revenue of $64 billion, up 26% from a year earlier, though costs and expenses rose 68%. Reality Labs, the division behind Meta's AR and VR products, continues to lose money, with losses expected to shrink to between $18 billion and $19 billion.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg said more than 10 million people in the U.S. and Canada have set up Muse personal agents in about six weeks, and that the company is now focused on scaling the product. Li also noted ongoing regulatory and legal scrutiny, including youth-related issues and trials scheduled in the U.S.

Source: TechCrunch