Meta’s revenue beats estimates, new nonvoting stock announced to boost AI expansion

Meta Platforms delivered a stronger-than-expected third quarter as advertising growth and early interest in its Muse AI agent helped support the company’s expanding artificial intelligence strategy. Revenue rose 26% to $64.6 billion, beating Wall Street’s $63.34 billion estimate, according to AP News.

Net income reached $9.86 billion, or $3.83 a share, compared with $2.71 billion, or $1.05 a share, a year earlier, AP News confirmed. The results included a $9.89 billion charge tied to an $18 billion settlement with 48 U.S. states over the effects of social media on teen mental health.

Excluding that charge, Meta said adjusted earnings would have been $7.40 a share, per AP News. According to the same publication, total expenses climbed 68% to $51.61 billion, reflecting the legal settlement and the company’s heavy investment in AI infrastructure.

Read more on Chicago Star’s Weekly City Buzz Newsletter

AI products gain early traction

Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said more than 10 million people in the U.S. and Canada had set up accounts for Muse, Meta’s personal AI agent, as reported by AP News. About 25% of those users engage with the product on a typical day.

Muse is designed to help with tasks such as scheduling, shopping and planning. Zuckerberg said the service requires substantial computing power but that Meta expects to improve its cost efficiency more than tenfold over the next year.

Meta’s advertising business also benefited from AI-driven recommendations, higher ad volume and rising ad prices. The company’s family of apps, including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, averaged 3.64 billion daily users, up 3% from a year earlier, according to AP News.

Read more on Chicago Star

• Meta, Zuckerberg works on image problem—donates 130K Ray-Ban AI glasses to blind veterans

•  SERHANT. launches AI-powered brokerage in Chicago as AI sparks debate on home sales

• Chicago’s office building sales boom as Zara founder buys One North Wacker for $550M

• Buyers bet on future of downtown Chicago retail as Block 37 and The Maxwell sell at low cost

• Netflix to cut 1,000 jobs in the company’s largest reduction since 2022 as competition rises 

• Amazon plans Chicago expansion with new same-day delivery hub expected to open in late 2027

New shares create investor uncertainty

Per Yahoo Finance, Meta’s board approved a publicly traded, nonvoting Class C share. Existing holders of Class A and Class B shares are expected to receive one Class C share for each share they own, creating an effect similar to a two-for-one stock split, the report confirmed.

Trading is scheduled to begin in January 2027. The structure would let Meta raise money for its AI build-out without reducing Zuckerberg’s voting control, but analysts said the plan has created an overhang for the stock and urged the company to issue the shares quickly, Yahoo Finance noted.

According to AP News, Meta forecast fourth-quarter revenue between $73 billion and $76 billion. It also raised the midpoint of its 2026 capital-spending outlook to $140 billion, underscoring the scale of its push into AI.