Meta just beat on revenue and put its AI agent at 10 million users — then split its stock in a way that keeps Zuckerberg in charge

Meta reported third-quarter revenue of US$64.6 billion, up 26 per cent from a year earlier and ahead of the roughly US$63.3 billion Wall Street expected, according to Market Flux and Tesla News Wire. The growth came on 10 per cent more ad impressions and 14 per cent higher average ad prices, and the company said its AI investments are already delivering substantial incremental advertising revenue.

The headline earnings number looked like a miss: reported earnings per share of US$3.83 after Meta absorbed a US$9.89-billion charge tied to its August settlement with 52 U.S. state attorneys general over teen mental health. Strip out that one-time charge, and EPS would have been US$7.40 with operating income of US$22.88 billion — a beat, not a miss. On a reported basis, operating income fell 37 per cent to US$12.99 billion.

A stock split that changes nothing about who runs Meta

The board approved a new class of publicly listed, nonvoting Class C common stock, expected to begin trading on Nasdaq on Jan. 19, 2027. Every Class A and Class B shareholder will receive one Class C share per share held in a one-time dividend — effectively a two-for-one split that leaves voting power unchanged. Shareholders have already approved the move by written consent, and a Founder Alignment Agreement filed with the SEC means Zuckerberg generally cannot cash out the new shares without giving up votes. As Zacks stock strategist Andrew Rocco put it, the move lets Meta issue stock "to fund AI investments without diluting CEO Mark Zuckerberg's control."

The new currency matters because of scale: Meta spent US$34.91 billion on capital expenditures in the quarter alone, and narrowed its full-year capex guidance to US$135 billion to US$145 billion, raising the floor. CFO Susan Li told analysts to expect aggressive investment to continue into 2027. All that spending pushed free cash flow to negative US$2.12 billion, down from US$8.55 billion a year earlier. The Class C shares give Meta a way to raise capital, pay for AI chips, fund acquisitions and compensate talent — without Zuckerberg losing his grip.

Muse's 10 million users — including Canadians

On the earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said more than 10 million people in the U.S. and Canada have set up accounts for Muse, Meta's personal AI agent, since its Sept. 8 launch. About a quarter use it daily, and shopping is already the top activity, with average purchases above US$200 among engaged shoppers, according to AI Parabellum and Stocktwits reporting on the call.

The monetization plan: keep Muse free for most people and take a cut of purchases made through it, plus subscriptions for power users and enterprise offerings. Zuckerberg said Muse is costly to run now but aims to make it more than 10 times cheaper to serve within a year, and that Meta is building compute capacity to serve over a billion people in the next few years.

For Canada, the numbers land twice. Canadian users are counted in that 10-million figure — Muse launched here the same day as the U.S. — and Canadian retailers who spend on Meta ads just got more expensive company: average ad prices rose 14 per cent, and the AI recommendation engine that is driving Meta's growth is the same one pricing their campaigns. Meta's AI buildout also reaches into Alberta, where the company is investing in data center capacity — the project at the centre of this site's earlier reporting.

Meta guided fourth-quarter revenue of US$73 billion to US$76 billion, with the midpoint above Wall Street's US$73.57 billion estimate. Reality Labs losses are projected at US$18 billion to US$19 billion for 2026, narrowing to roughly US$15 billion in 2027. Shares closed up 0.5 per cent in regular trading Wednesday and rose about 2.9 per cent after hours.