Meta is looking for a creative way to bankroll its massive leap into artificial intelligence without diluting the control held by its top leadership. During a recent earnings call, Chief Financial Officer Susan Li revealed that the social media giant plans to introduce a new class of non-voting stock. These shares would be distributed to current investors via a stock dividend, providing the company with a versatile tool for raising capital, compensating employees, and funding acquisitions while ensuring that voting power remains concentrated among Class A and B shareholders.
This strategic move comes at a time when Meta is spending aggressively to stay competitive in the AI arms race. While the company reported impressive third-quarter revenues of 64 billion dollars, representing a 26 percent increase over last year, those gains are being chased by skyrocketing costs. Expenses jumped 68 percent year-over-year as the firm pours resources into its AI infrastructure and manages the continuing losses within Reality Labs, the division tasked with developing virtual and augmented reality hardware.
The financial gamble appears to be paying off in terms of user adoption. Mark Zuckerberg highlighted the rapid growth of Meta Muse, noting that millions of users in North America have already adopted personal AI agents. With various specialized models like Muse Code and open-weight versions now available, Zuckerberg believes the technology has found its market fit and is ready to scale toward serving billions of people globally.
However, this ambitious expansion is happening against a backdrop of persistent legal headwinds. Even as Meta celebrates its technical milestones, executives warned that regulatory scrutiny regarding youth safety and several upcoming court trials in the United States remain significant risks that could disrupt their long-term financial trajectory.
