Meta Plans Non-Voting Class C Stock to Fund AI Spending
Meta said in its third-quarter 2026 earnings report, released Wednesday, October 21, 2026, that it is issuing a new class of non-voting shares to fund its artificial intelligence initiatives. The company's Board of Directors approved a publicly listed, non-voting Class C common stock, as stated in the press release accompanying the results.
According to Meta, the proceeds will go toward AI investment, potential acquisitions and employee compensation. On the earnings call, CFO Susan Li said the new share class will expand the company's funding tools and give it flexibility to invest behind AI-driven momentum.
Timing matters for anyone tracking the capitalization table. Meta will issue the Class C stock in January 2027, and trading is set to begin during 2027. Until then, the shares exist only as an approved plan. Meta expects the issuance to have the economic effect of a two-for-one split, in which each existing share is divided into two.
Meta also raised the lower end of its 2026 capital expenditure (capex) forecast. It now expects capex of between $135 billion and $145 billion, up from its previous estimate of $130 billion to $145 billion.
The new stock joins an existing two-tier structure. Class A and Class B common stock carry identical liquidation and dividend rights but different voting rights, and each Class A share carries one vote. As of April 1, 2026, outstanding Class B shares represented a majority of the combined voting power. As of January 23, 2026, Meta had 2,187,177,748 Class A shares and 342,377,716 Class B shares outstanding.
Meta has used outside capital for its infrastructure before. In 2025, it announced a joint venture with funds managed by Blue Owl Capital to develop the Hyperion data center, in which Blue Owl-managed funds own an 80% interest and Meta retains 20%.
The broader context here is the structure itself. In my view, the notable element for readers who follow capital markets is the pairing of economic rights equal to the existing classes with no vote attached. That allows Meta to raise equity for AI spending without adding to the voting power that Class B holders already control. How public investors price the Class C shares against the existing classes will become visible only once trading begins in 2027.
For the wider industry, the practical change is a new funding channel for a company with a heavy compute program, alongside the partnership structures it has already used. If that capital reaches data centers, models and the engineering teams that build them, the instrument gives a large AI spender more room to match financing to its build-out. That flexibility is what the company is asking investors to back.
