Meta Class C stock plan doubles share count as revenue jumps 26%

Meta Class C stock is coming. Alongside third-quarter results on Wednesday, Oct. 21, Meta Platforms said its board approved a new class of publicly listed, non-voting shares and declared a one-time dividend of one Class C share for every Class A and Class B share outstanding, effective January 2027.

What happened

The company said that once the dividend is paid, the market price of its Class A shares should reflect a two-for-one split. Voting power will not change, because the new shares carry no votes. Meta plans to file an amended certificate of incorporation in Delaware with an effective date of Jan. 19, 2027, and to list the new class on Nasdaq. The record and payment dates will be set later.

A special committee of independent directors recommended the move. Its stated reasons were a pool of stock for raising capital, paying staff and doing acquisitions during the AI build-out, and keeping founder Mark Zuckerberg in charge. Meta also signed a Founder Alignment Agreement with him that covers his sales of the new shares and his service at the company.

The quarter itself beat forecasts. Revenue rose 26% to $64.60 billion, above the $63.37 billion LSEG consensus cited by CNBC. Net income was $9.86 billion, or $3.83 a share, after a $9.89 billion charge tied to its settlement with 52 state attorneys general. Without that charge, earnings would have been $7.40 a share, Meta said.

Why it matters

Spending remains the big number. Capital expenditure, including finance lease payments, reached $34.91 billion in the quarter, up from $31.08 billion in the second, Business Insider noted. Meta narrowed its 2026 range to $135 billion to $145 billion from $130 billion to $145 billion, and free cash flow came in at minus $2.12 billion. It said it expects to keep "investing aggressively" in 2027.

That is where the Meta Class C stock plan fits. Non-voting shares let the company pay for deals and talent in stock without diluting Zuckerberg's control. Much of that spending flows to hardware suppliers, as the Super Micro preliminary results showed earlier this week.

The ad engine is paying for it so far. Ad impressions rose 10% and the average price per ad 14%, while daily active people across Meta's apps reached 3.64 billion in September. Headcount fell 15% from a year earlier to 66,775.

Reality Labs, the virtual reality and glasses unit, is now expected to lose $18 billion to $19 billion this year, less than in 2025, and about $15 billion next year as money shifts to AI. Zuckerberg pointed to Muse, Meta's AI agent, which topped the U.S. App Store in September after more than 10 million downloads in 40 days, Forbes reported, and said on the call that he expects it to be highly profitable.

What's next

Meta guided fourth-quarter revenue to $73 billion to $76 billion, with total 2026 expenses of $175 billion to $179 billion. Shares rose about 2% to 4% after hours, according to CNBC and Business Insider, even as Nasdaq futures fell more than 1% early Thursday. Chip stocks had only just steadied after the Nasdaq chip rebound.

Full terms are in Meta's third-quarter release, and an 8-K and information statement will follow. Until the record date is set, the Meta Class C stock dividend is approved but not yet scheduled.