Meta Platforms reported third-quarter results on Wednesday that beat Wall Street’s revenue expectations, with sales rising 26 per cent to $64.60 billion and net income of $9.86 billion — more than triple the $2.7 billion earned a year earlier, when a one-time tax charge weighed on results.
The underlying business was strong even after a major legal cost. Advertising revenue in the Family of Apps segment rose 26 per cent to $63.1 billion, with ad impressions up 10 per cent and the average price per ad up 14 per cent. A $9.89 billion charge tied to a multistate attorneys general agreement cut GAAP earnings to $3.83 per share; excluding it, adjusted earnings were $7.40 per share and the operating margin would have been 35 per cent instead of 20 per cent.
The bill for Meta’s AI ambitions keeps climbing. Capital spending reached $34.9 billion in the quarter, free cash flow was negative $2.1 billion, and the company raised the low end of its 2026 capital expenditure guidance to $135 billion from $130 billion, keeping the top at $145 billion. It guided fourth-quarter revenue to between $73 billion and $76 billion.
To help pay for it, Meta’s board approved creating a new class of publicly listed, non-voting Class C common stock, effective in January and distributed to existing shareholders as a stock dividend. Analysts noted the structure lets Meta raise capital for AI infrastructure without diluting CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s control. Meta shares rose about 2.9 per cent in after-hours trading.
