Meta Introduces Non-Voting Shares to Fund Its Expanding AI Ambitions

Meta has found a financial lever that could fuel its massive expansion into artificial intelligence.

The strategy involves issuing a new type of equity that allows the company to raise money while keeping decision-making power firmly in the hands of its existing leadership.

The move was revealed on Wednesday, coinciding with the release of the company's third-quarter financial results.

Earlier reports from Semafor suggested that Meta was preparing to launch non-voting shares, and the company officially confirmed the plan during its earnings call.

Susan Li, the chief financial officer, explained that the new class of capital stock will be distributed to all current shareholders via a stock dividend.

The primary goal is to create a publicly traded instrument that can be used for raising capital, compensating employees, and facilitating acquisitions.

Crucially, this structure preserves the voting power of the current Class A and Class B shareholders, thereby maintaining the company's founder-led governance model.

Li described the initiative as a way to expand funding tools and provide the flexibility needed to invest in the rapid momentum driven by AI across the business.

The financial backdrop for this move is mixed, with strong revenue growth offset by rising costs.

Meta reported $64 billion in revenue for the quarter, marking a 26 percent increase from the same period last year.

However, costs and expenses surged by 68 percent year-over-year, reflecting the heavy investment in infrastructure and talent.

The Reality Labs division, which handles augmented reality glasses and virtual reality headsets, remains a significant financial drag.

While losses in that sector have narrowed compared to previous periods, the company expects the division to lose between $18 billion and $19 billion this year.

The push into AI has been aggressive over the past year, with the release of several new models including Muse Spark and Muse Glimmer.

In recent weeks, Meta added Muse Wonder and Muse Spark Open, the latter being an open-weight model available for external developers.

The company also launched Muse Code, a coding agent for software developers, and unveiled new avatar options for its AI assistant at its Meta Connect event.

These products appear to be gaining significant traction, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg noting that more than 10 million people in the U.S. and Canada have set up personal agents in just six weeks.

Zuckerberg stated that Muse has achieved clear product-market fit and is entering a new operational phase focused on scaling the service to potentially serve billions of users.

Despite the optimism, Li acknowledged that regulatory and legal challenges remain, including scrutiny on youth-related issues and upcoming trials in the United States.