Article · Money and markets · Technology
Meta spent more on AI than its business brought in, and will issue shares with no vote. Zuckerberg keeps 60.6 percent of the votes with 13.4 percent of the company
On 21 October 2026 Meta reported third-quarter capital expenditure of $34.91 billion (servers, data centers and network infrastructure), against $32.79 billion of cash from operations, leaving free cash flow at minus $2.12 billion (plus $10.63 billion a year earlier). The same day it set up a new non-voting Class C share, which it says it expects to use for equity offerings. On 22 October Meta fell 7 percent, the Nasdaq 2.6 percent and the chip index 6.7 percent (Reuters).
In the third quarter of 2026 Meta spent more on artificial intelligence than its own business brought in: free cash flow was minus $2.12 billion. The next day the US chip index fell 6.7 percent.
Our 21 October piece on AI debt said we did not know whether the big tech companies would cut their investment plans. The first answer came from Meta itself: no. It narrowed its 2026 investment range to $135-145 billion, and it is preparing to raise money through new shares that give buyers no vote.