Meta says it is issuing a new class of shares to fund its AI initiatives. As part of its third-quarter earnings report released Wednesday, the company says the non-voting shares will also go toward potential acquisitions and employee compensation, with operations beginning in 2027.
“The scale of investment required to compete, sustain growth, expand infrastructure and undertake new strategic initiatives amid the AI transformation taking place in the industry is significant,” Meta states in the press release. Susan Li, Meta’s chief financial officer, added during an earnings call that the new share class will “expand our financing tools and give us flexibility to invest behind the unprecedented momentum we are seeing in every part of our AI-powered business.”
Meta has invested billions of dollars in the AI race as it builds (and promotes) sprawling data centers, poaching top talent from other companies like OpenAI, and building AI models capable of rivaling those of other tech giants. The company expects capital expenditures between $135 billion and $145 billion this year, up from the previous estimate of $130 billion and $145 billion.
