Meta raises capex outlook to $135–145 billion and opens the door to equity financing
The company is distributing one new Class C share per existing share — an effective two-for-one split — so it can raise equity for $135–145 billion in capex without weakening Mark Zuckerberg's voting power.
Meta Platforms announced the plan alongside its third-quarter 2026 results: a new class of non-voting C shares intended to give the company a tool for financing its AI push, executing acquisitions and rewarding employees — without diluting the control of CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The arrangement works as an effective two-for-one share split, and the new shares are expected to begin trading in January 2027, according to Reuters (MarketScreener).
Most sources date the announcement to October 21, 2026, when Meta's quarterly results were presented, while Reuters quotes the company "Wednesday" with a dateline of October 22. The discrepancy is not resolved in the source material, but the underlying decision is the same.
How the arrangement works
The mechanics are a one-time stock dividend, not a sale. The board has decided to distribute one Class C share for each existing Class A and B share, effectively doubling the share count, according to Reuters. The capital structure itself is established by Meta amending and restating its certificate of incorporation to create the Class C share class, with an expected effective date of January 19, 2027, according to Lapaas Voice, citing Meta's Q3 2026 results. The record and payment dates for the dividend have not yet been set.
The crucial point: the Class C shares carry no votes. New share issuances can therefore expand the share base and generate cash without diluting the founder's voting power, which rests on Class B shares with outsized voting weight.
Why equity — and why now
The backdrop is the cost of the AI investments. Meta has raised the lower bound of its 2026 capital expenditure guidance from $130 billion to $135 billion, with an upper bound of $145 billion — figures that include finance-lease principal payments — according to Let's Data Science, which cites the company's announcement on October 21. The money is destined for data centers, chips and computing capacity.
According to Reuters, Meta itself has pointed out that large-scale debt financing could damage its credit rating, making equity financing more attractive at this scale. The company describes the investments required to compete in artificial intelligence as "unprecedented," as reported by Reuters.
CFO Susan Li tied the arrangement directly to the AI strategy on the earnings call: the new shares will "expand our funding tools and give us flexibility to invest behind the unprecedented momentum we're seeing across every part of our business driven by AI," she said, according to The Verge.
How Zuckerberg's control is preserved
As of October 1, 2026, Zuckerberg owned roughly 341.2 million Class B shares and 1.2 million Class A shares — equivalent to about 60.6 percent of Meta's voting power but only 13.4 percent of the economic ownership, according to Reuters, citing company filings. Under the stock dividend, he will receive approximately 342.4 million Class C shares, which add to his economic position without changing the voting balance.
Meta's special committee stated that preserving Zuckerberg's leadership was a key objective of the recapitalization, and that he would not support a significant equity financing that reduced his voting control, Reuters writes.
The market was watching
Interest in Meta's capital needs was evident in the market data even before the announcement. Short interest in Meta stock had risen by more than 20 percent — equivalent to 33 million shares — since mid-August 2026, CryptoBriefing reports, citing market data as of October 21. Speculation about a major equity raise peaked the same day.
What remains open
The most important caveat: the share class itself raises no money. It creates a tool. According to Reuters, Meta expects to offer new shares "from time to time," but neither the size nor the timing of a possible first offering is known. Neither the record nor the payment dates for the stock dividend have been set, and the charter amendment process remains to be completed.
It is also worth noting that all figures and quotations here come from secondary reporting — Reuters, The Verge, Lapaas Voice, Let's Data Science and CryptoBriefing — and not from the SEC filing itself or a primary document from Meta. The conclusions therefore rest on these sources' rendering of the company's own information.