Meta Q3 profit more than triples, revenue hits US$64.6B

Meta Platforms said Wednesday its third-quarter profit more than tripled to US$9.86 billion as revenue rose 26 per cent to US$64.60 billion, beating Wall Street forecasts, and that it will create a new class of non-voting shares to help pay for its artificial intelligence push.

The parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp reported net income of US$9.86 billion, or US$3.83 per diluted share, for the quarter ended Sept. 30, up from US$2.71 billion, or US$1.05 per share, a year earlier, according to its quarterly results release. Revenue of US$64.60 billion topped the US$63.34 billion analysts expected, The Canadian Press reported.

“We hit major milestones this quarter toward delivering personal superintelligence for everyone, including launching Muse and Muse Wonder, our first frontier model,” chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said in the release. “Our investments are paying off, the core business is strong, and we’re seeing velocity across the board.”

The quarter included a US$9.89-billion charge tied to the company’s August agreement with state attorneys general to settle litigation over teen mental health and social media, which provides for payments of up to about US$18.59 billion, Meta said. Excluding the charge, earnings would have been US$7.40 per share.

Total costs and expenses jumped 68 per cent to US$51.61 billion, including the legal charge, and operating income fell 37 per cent to US$12.99 billion. Capital spending in the quarter reached US$34.91 billion, and free cash flow was negative US$2.12 billion, the company said.

Meta’s board approved a new class of publicly listed, non-voting Class C common stock, effective in January. The Canadian Press reported the move is meant in part to help the company raise money for AI infrastructure. “Meta plans to issue nonvoting shares to fund AI investments without diluting CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s control,” Andrew Rocco, a stock strategist at Zacks Investment Research, told the news agency.

Meta said an average of 3.64 billion people used at least one of its apps each day in September, up three per cent from a year earlier. On a call with analysts, Zuckerberg said more than 10 million people in the United States and Canada have set up accounts for Muse, the personal AI agent Meta launched in August, and that about 25 per cent of them use it on any given day.

For the fourth quarter, Meta forecast revenue of US$73 billion to US$76 billion and said it now expects full-year 2026 expenses of US$175 billion to US$179 billion, including the legal charge. It also narrowed its 2026 capital spending estimate to US$135 billion to US$145 billion, The Canadian Press reported. The company had 66,775 employees at the end of September, down 15 per cent from a year earlier.

Meta shares closed up 0.5 per cent in regular trading Wednesday and rose 2.9 per cent after hours following the results, according to The Canadian Press. “Meta stock” was searched more than 10,000 times in Canada over the past day, Google Trends data show.

In Canada, Ottawa is weighing new rules for young users, including Bill C-34, which would ban under-16s from social media accounts. Meta was also found liable in a social media addiction trial in March.

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Sources: Meta Platforms third-quarter 2026 results release, The Canadian Press.