Meta is creating a new class of non-voting shares, announced alongside its third-quarter earnings on Wednesday, to finance its artificial intelligence buildout, potential acquisitions and employee compensation. Trading in the new stock is expected to begin in 2027. The move gives the company another capital-raising instrument as it commits tens of billions of dollars annually to compute, data centres and AI talent, and it signals that the balance-sheet strain of the AI race is now shaping corporate structure, not just spending plans.

A funding tool for an expensive race

In its earnings release, Meta framed the share class as a response to the scale of investment the industry now demands. The company said the investment required to compete, sustain growth, expand infrastructure and pursue new strategic initiatives amid the AI transformation is significant. On the earnings call, chief financial officer Susan Li said the new class would expand Meta's funding tools and give it flexibility to invest behind what she described as unprecedented momentum across every part of the business driven by AI.

Because the shares carry no voting rights, the structure lets Meta raise capital without diluting the control of founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who already holds a dominant voting position through the company's existing dual-class structure. For investors, the instrument is essentially a way to participate in Meta's AI upside without any say over strategy; for Meta, it is a cheaper and more flexible alternative to debt or further dilution of the voting shares.

Capex guidance climbs again

The financing plan arrives as Meta raised its capital expenditure forecast for the year to between $135 billion and $145 billion, up from an earlier range of $130 billion to $145 billion. That spending covers sprawling data centres built and promoted by the company, compute for training and serving AI models intended to rival those of other tech giants, and aggressive recruitment of top researchers from competitors including OpenAI. The new share class is designed to keep that pipeline funded as costs escalate.

Muse lands, and stumbles

The earnings report caps a busy stretch on the product side. Meta launched its AI agent, Muse, in September; like other agents, it can clear an email inbox, book restaurant reservations and plan trips. The Muse app shot to the top of app stores after rollout and reached 10 million downloads in the US this week. Meta also rolled out its Muse Wonder model this week.

The launch has not been smooth. Amid privacy concerns, a tech YouTuber reported that the agent disclosed his address to a stranger on Facebook Marketplace, and the company paused Muse's conversation-sharing feature after researchers found chats publicly available on the web. Those episodes underline the operational and reputational risk that accompanies the agent push Meta is now financing through the markets.

What the structure means

A non-voting share class gives Meta a standing mechanism to raise equity for acquisitions and compensation without touching its governance balance. It also broadens the pool of investors who can hold Meta exposure, potentially including index funds and institutions that are indifferent to voting rights. The trade-off is scrutiny: analysts will want to know how much the company intends to issue, at what pace, and whether the proceeds are ring-fenced for AI or fungible across the business. Meta has not disclosed the size of the offering.

With trading slated for 2027, the immediate effect is on expectations rather than the share count. Meta's message is that the AI buildout is a multi-year capital programme, and that it intends to fund it with the same creativity it applies to its models. Whether investors reward that flexibility or read it as a signal that AI spending has outrun operating cash flow will become clear as the structure takes shape ahead of its 2027 debut.