Meta wants to pay for its broad AI buildout with a newly created class of stock

Meta announced the creation of a new class of non-voting capital stock to help fund its broad artificial intelligence buildout. During the company's third-quarter earnings call, CFO Susan Li confirmed that the new stock will be distributed to all existing shareholders through a stock dividend. The shares are designed to be usable for capital raising, employee compensation, acquisitions, and other corporate purposes while preserving the voting power of existing Class A and B shareholders, thereby maintaining Meta's founder-led structure. The company's quarterly earnings were strong, with revenue reaching $64 billion, a 26% year-over-year increase, though costs and expenses rose 68%. Its Reality Labs division continues to lose money, but losses are expected to shrink to between $18 billion and $19 billion. Meta has aggressively pushed into AI, releasing models like Muse Spark and Muse Glimmer, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said more than 10 million people have set up Muse personal agents in the U.S. and Canada. However, ongoing regulatory and legal issues, particularly around youth-related matters, remain a concern.

(Source：TechCrunch)