Meta Q3 2026 Earnings: Revenue Beat, a $9.9 Billion Legal Charge and New Nonvoting Shares

Meta Platforms reported third-quarter 2026 revenue of $64.60 billion after the close on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, up 26% from a year earlier and above the $63.37 billion analysts expected, according to LSEG data cited by Reuters. The results reached the MoveSurge news feed at 16:02:02 ET. Diluted earnings were $3.83 a share after a $9.89 billion legal charge, and Meta said EPS would have been $7.40 without it. The company also announced a new class of nonvoting stock. META closed the regular session at $697.52, up 0.47%, before the release.

The charge covers the agreement Meta reached in August with 52 state attorneys general over teen mental health claims, under which it will pay up to about $18.59 billion. It is separate from the $25 billion penalty a New Mexico judge ordered earlier on Wednesday in the Cambridge Analytica case. That order came after the quarter ended, and the results release does not mention it.

Meta third-quarter 2026 results

Both years carry a large one-time item, so the headline EPS comparison says little. A year ago a tax charge pushed Meta's tax rate to 87% and cut EPS to $1.05. This quarter the legal charge sits in general and administrative expenses, which rose to $14.86 billion from $3.51 billion. Without the charge, operating income would have been $22.88 billion, up from $20.54 billion.

The advertising business kept growing. Ad impressions rose 10% and the average price per ad rose 14%, and 3.64 billion people used at least one Meta app each day in September, up 3%. Reality Labs, the virtual-reality and smart-glasses unit, lost $4.13 billion, less than the $4.43 billion a year earlier. "Our investments are paying off, the core business is strong, and we're seeing velocity across the board," chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said in the release.

A new nonvoting share class

Meta will create Class C common stock with no voting rights and hand it to shareholders as a one-time stock dividend: one Class C share for every Class A and Class B share. Shareholders controlled by Zuckerberg approved the change by written consent on October 20. The new charter takes effect on January 19, 2027, and Meta intends to list the Class C shares on Nasdaq. Meta said the dividend "will not change the voting power of any shareholder," and it expects the Class A price to adjust as it would after a two-for-one split.

The new class gives Meta a way to raise money without diluting control. Meta listed capital raising, employee pay and acquisitions among its purposes, and its information statement says it "expects to conduct offerings of Class C common stock from time to time in the future." No offering size or date has been announced. Zuckerberg held about 60.6% of the vote and 13.4% of the economic interest as of October 1.

Spending forecast and cash

Meta now expects 2026 total expenses of $175 billion to $179 billion, up from $165 billion to $169 billion in July, a rise that includes the $9.9 billion legal charge. It raised the low end of its capital spending forecast to $135 billion, keeping the top at $145 billion. Free cash flow was negative $2.12 billion in the quarter, Meta bought back no stock, and cash and marketable securities fell to $82.45 billion from $90.26 billion at the end of June.

For the fourth quarter Meta expects revenue of $73 billion to $76 billion, against about $73.68 billion analysts expected, according to 24/7 Wall St. It expects Reality Labs to lose $18 billion to $19 billion in 2026 and about $15 billion in 2027, and it warned that several youth-related trials are scheduled in the US in the coming months.