Meta lifts its capex floor to $135 billion and adds a non-voting stock for AI

Alongside its third-quarter earnings, Meta said it will issue a new class of non-voting stock to help fund its AI initiatives, potential acquisitions and employee pay, with trading starting in 2027, The Verge reports. It also nudged up the low end of its capital spending forecast to between $135 billion and $145 billion for the year. Meta’s chief financial officer framed the share class as flexibility to invest behind AI momentum. TechCrunch’s account of the call adds that the shares will reach existing holders as a stock dividend while preserving Class A and B voting power (Meta’s non-voting stock), and a separate filing ties the CEO’s ability to sell his allotment to staying in California (residency agreement).

When one of the world’s most profitable companies decides it needs new equity tools to keep pace, it signals how expensive frontier AI has become and how long Meta expects its build-out to last.

The move appears to be less about raising cash immediately than about optionality. Non-voting shares let Meta pay researchers, buy companies and potentially tap markets without diluting control at the top, useful in a heated race for talent and sprawling data center projects. It also widens the gap between who funds the company and who steers it. Meta already has a founder-controlled structure; the new class adds another layer where shareholders carry the risk of a historic capital spending bet without gaining a say. If the spending pays off, the trade-off may draw little attention; if it does not, governance questions are likely to grow.

The 2027 trading start gives investors time to judge how much stock will be issued and whether full-year capex lands at the top of the range. Meta One subscriptions (Meta One) are another attempt to monetize the AI spend.

Meta launched Muse in September to handle tasks such as cleaning up an inbox, booking restaurants and planning trips. The app climbed the charts and, per The Verge, reached 10 million U.S. downloads this week, with a Muse Wonder model also rolling out (Muse Wonder models). It has also stumbled. The reporting cites a YouTuber who said Muse gave his address to a stranger on Facebook Marketplace, and Meta paused Muse’s conversation-sharing feature after researchers found chats exposed on the open web (Muse sharing paused).

Useful agents at Meta’s scale could save people time. The concern is sequencing: money is flowing faster than privacy discipline, and a new share class makes it easier to keep it flowing. More in our Meta coverage, funding coverage and finance coverage.