Meta Q3 2026 earnings: capex guidance raised to $135–145 billion and a new non-voting Class C share to fund AI

Update, October 23, 2026: Meta's 10-Q, filed October 22, 2026, lists about $825 billion in future lease and contract commitments. See our breakdown.

Meta's Q3 2026 earnings, reported on October 21, 2026, showed Meta spending more on AI infrastructure than ever and creating a new way to pay for it. Revenue rose 26% to $64.60 billion. Capital expenditures reached $34.91 billion in the quarter, and Meta raised the bottom of its 2026 capex range to $135 billion, keeping the top at $145 billion. The same day, Meta disclosed a new non-voting Class C common stock, which it says is for "Capital Raising, Employee Compensation, Potential Acquisitions."

This story is based on Meta's Q3 2026 earnings release, its earlier 2026 releases, its October 21 Form 8-K and preliminary Schedule 14C information statement, a transcript of the earnings call and Reuters' reporting, checked October 22 and re-checked against Meta's release and SEC EDGAR on October 23, 2026. Most of that spending goes into clusters like Prometheus, described in our Prometheus supercluster story.

The short version

• Results: revenue $64.60 billion (up 26%); operating income $12.99 billion (down 37%), after a $9.89 billion legal charge.
• Capex: $34.91 billion in Q3; 2026 outlook now $135–145 billion.
• 2027: no capex or expense figure. Meta says it will keep "investing aggressively."
• New stock: non-voting Class C shares, effective January 19, 2027, issued as a one-for-one dividend to existing holders.
• AI: Mark Zuckerberg cited "major milestones" toward "personal superintelligence for everyone." Meta said nothing new about Prometheus or Hyperion.

What did Meta report for Q3 2026?

Last verified: October 23, 2026

Two items distort the comparison. Q3 2026 costs include a $9.89 billion charge for an agreement with 52 state attorneys general resolving litigation over teen mental health and social media. Q3 2025 net income was depressed by an 87% effective tax rate, against 24% this year.

Free cash flow was negative $2.12 billion, Meta bought back no stock in the quarter, and Reality Labs lost $4.13 billion. Headcount was 66,775 on September 30, down 15% from a year earlier; on the call, Li said it fell 12% from the second quarter after a May 2026 headcount reduction.

How much will Meta spend on AI infrastructure in 2026 and 2027?

For 2026, Meta now expects capital expenditures, including principal payments on finance leases, of $135–145 billion. It has moved the range three times this year:

Meta's 2026 capex outlook, as given in each earnings release

US dollars, billions; capital expenditures including principal payments on finance leases

050100150135145

Jan 28, 2026Apr 29, 2026Jul 29, 2026Oct 21, 2026

• Low end
• High end

Show the data

Outlook given	Low end	High end
Jan 28, 2026	115	135
Apr 29, 2026	125	145
Jul 29, 2026	130	145
Oct 21, 2026	135	145

That is, $115–135 billion in January, $125–145 billion in April, $130–145 billion in July and $135–145 billion on October 21. Meta spent $85.82 billion in the first nine months, so the new range implies $49 billion to $59 billion in the fourth quarter, a 9to5AI calculation. Full-year 2025 capex was $72.22 billion.

Meta also raised its 2026 total expense outlook to $175–179 billion, from $165–169 billion in July. The release says the increase incorporates the legal charge.

For 2027, there's no number. The release says only that Meta expects "to continue investing aggressively to support both our core business and emerging AI initiatives," and that Reality Labs losses should narrow to about $15 billion as resources shift "primarily" to AI. On the call, according to a Motley Fool transcript, Li said Meta is "quite early in developing our budget and capacity plans for next year" and would share specifics on the Q4 call.

What did Meta say about AI?

Less than the spending suggests. Zuckerberg's statement in the release says: "We hit major milestones this quarter toward delivering personal superintelligence for everyone." The CFO commentary says Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL) investments "are creating the technology and infrastructure needed to unlock significant new revenue opportunities."

On the call, per the transcript, Zuckerberg said "we shipped Muse Wonder as our first frontier model," covered in our Muse Wonder story, and noted Muse Spark 1.2 and 1.3, the closed model behind Meta AI explained in our Muse Spark explainer. He said Meta is "building out the capacity to serve more than a billion people over the next few years." Li said Meta expects total serving costs to rise while it targets "more than 10x" efficiency gains over the next year.

Neither the release nor the call transcript mentions Prometheus, the Ohio supercluster that Meta says trained the Muse models, or Hyperion, its next site, in Richland Parish, Louisiana. How much of the industry's announced capacity is actually running is tracked in our gigawatt datacenter analysis.

What is Meta's new Class C stock?

A third class of common stock with no votes. Per the 8-K and the preliminary information statement filed October 21:

• What holders get: a one-time dividend of one Class C share for each Class A and Class B share. Meta expects Class A's price to reflect a two-for-one split after payment.
• Rights: Class C shares share equally in dividends and liquidation but carry no vote. The release says the dividend "will not change the voting power of any shareholder."
• Dates: the board approved it on October 19, 2026. The restated charter takes effect January 19, 2027. Record and payment dates for the dividend will be set later, with payment no later than the fifth business day after the charter takes effect.
• Approval: by written consent of Chan Zuckerberg entities holding about 56.1% of the voting power, which the filing calls "the only shareholder approval required." No vote of other shareholders is being held.
• Listing: Meta intends to list Class C on Nasdaq. No ticker has been announced.
• Why: a special committee of independent directors cited raising non-voting equity for AI-related growth, using Class C shares for acquisitions and employee pay without diluting votes, and keeping Zuckerberg in a leadership role.

The filings put Zuckerberg's voting power at about 60.6% as of October 1, 2026, against about 13.4% of the economic interest. Because future Class C shares carry no vote, issuing them wouldn't dilute that control. A separate Founder Alignment Agreement "staples" 80% of Zuckerberg's dividend shares: he can sell them only alongside a matching sale or conversion of his Class A or Class B shares, with releases of 2.5% a quarter over 32 quarters while he stays in a leadership role.

On the call, Li said the class was created "with the purpose of creating a publicly traded nonvoting stock," and that Meta has no specific financing plans to announce.

Did Meta sell $25 billion of bonds?

Yes, in the spring, not this quarter. Reuters reported on April 30, 2026, the day after Meta raised its capex range to $125–145 billion, that Meta sold $25 billion of investment-grade bonds in six portions. Meta's Form 8-K of May 4, 2026, confirms $25 billion of senior notes in six tranches maturing from 2031 to 2066, with coupons from 4.550% to 6.450%. The Q3 release shows no new long-term debt issued in Q3 2026. How credit markets treated AI-heavy borrowers in October is covered in our story on the AI stocks and credit sell-off.

What's confirmed, reported and uncertain

• Confirmed (Meta release, 8-K, Schedule 14C): every financial figure above, the 2026 outlooks, the absence of a 2027 capex figure, and the Class C terms and dates.
• Confirmed (call transcript, Motley Fool): the Li and Zuckerberg remarks quoted from the call; this is a third-party transcript, not Meta's.
• Calculated by 9to5AI: the implied Q4 capex, and the Q3 2025 and nine-month capex totals, each the sum of two cash-flow lines.
• Uncertain: 2027 capex, when and how Meta will sell Class C shares, the dividend's record date, and the Class C ticker. This story describes the filings; it isn't investment advice.