Meta Plans New Non-Voting Stock Class to Fund AI Expansion While Preserving Founder Control
Meta confirms plans to create a new class of non-voting shares to raise capital for AI infrastructure and acquisitions without diluting existing voting power.
US social media giant Meta confirmed during its earnings call on Wednesday that it plans to create a new class of non-voting capital stock. Chief Financial Officer Susan Li stated that these shares would be distributed to all existing shareholders via a stock dividend, aiming to provide additional funding tools for artificial intelligence investments, employee compensation, and acquisitions without diluting the voting rights of Class A and B shareholders.
This move directly addresses Meta's massive AI spending requirements. Li noted that the new 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." Currently, Meta is heavily investing in the development of AI models and services, including Muse Spark and the coding agent Muse Code for developers. Although the company reported $64 billion in revenue for the third quarter, a 26% year-over-year increase, its costs and expenses also surged by 68% year-over-year, highlighting the high cost of AI construction.
By introducing non-voting stock, Meta attempts to open more equity financing channels to the public market while maintaining its "founder-led structure." This means investors can gain economic exposure to Meta without influencing corporate governance decisions. Such structures are not uncommon in the tech industry (like Alphabet), but in the current AI arms race, they offer a more flexible balance sheet management tool for large-scale capital expenditures.
Additionally, Meta disclosed that losses from its Reality Labs division (responsible for AR/VR) are expected to narrow from 2025 levels to between $18 billion and $19 billion. CEO Mark Zuckerberg emphasized that its AI assistant product Muse has been set up by over 10 million users in the US and Canada, claiming the product has entered a scaling operational phase.