Meta introduces non-voting shares to fund its AI ambitions

Meta is taking a significant step in its AI development by creating a new class of non-voting shares. This move was confirmed during the company’s earnings call, as it plans to distribute these shares to all existing shareholders through a stock dividend. The new shares are designed to provide flexibility for capital raising, employee compensation, acquisitions, and other corporate purposes, while keeping the voting power of existing shareholders intact.

The company’s chief financial officer, Susan Li, explained that the new shares were created to maintain the founder-led structure of the company. This aligns with Meta’s broader strategy to invest heavily in AI, which has driven strong momentum across its business. The company reported $64 billion in revenue for the third quarter, a 26% increase from the previous year.

Reality Labs, the division responsible for Meta’s AR and VR products, continues to operate at a loss, though the losses are decreasing. The company expects the division’s losses to shrink to between $18 billion and $19 billion. Meta has also been actively rolling out new AI models, including Muse Spark, Muse Glimmer, Muse Wonder, and Muse Spark Open, as well as a coding agent for developers called Muse Code.

The company’s AI assistant, Meta Muse, has seen rapid adoption, with more than 10 million people in the U.S. and Canada setting up personal agents in just a month and a half. CEO Mark Zuckerberg noted that the product has achieved clear product-market fit and is now entering a more operational phase focused on scaling. He expects the product to eventually serve billions of people.

However, ongoing regulatory and legal challenges remain a concern for the company. Li mentioned that several youth-related trials are scheduled for the coming months in the United States, and the company is continuing to monitor active legal and regulatory matters that could impact its business and financial results.