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# Meta beat on revenue, took a US$9.89 billion legal charge and created shares without votes
- URL: https://www.sharespective.com/stories/meta-beat-revenue-took-us-9-2026-10-22/
- Published: 2026-10-21T21:15:02.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-21T21:50:33.000Z
- Description: Meta closed Wednesday at US$697.52, up 0.47%, ahead of its results. Once they landed, the shares rose more than 3% in after-hours trading.
- Author: Shaun Botha
- Tags: Big tech, #story, #group-other, Meta

Meta closed Wednesday at US$697.52, up 0.47%, ahead of its results. Once they landed, the shares rose more than 3% in after-hours trading.

**The advertising business is growing fast.** Revenue rose 26% in the September quarter to US$64.6 billion, ahead of the roughly US$63.3 billion expected. Meta showed 10% more ads than a year earlier, and charged 14% more for each one.

Profit took a hit from the courts. Meta booked a US$9.89 billion charge after settling with 52 state attorneys general over teen mental health, and the deal could cost it up to about US$18.59 billion in all. Net income still came to US$9.86 billion.

[![Chart: Meta's spending closes in on its cash. Cash from operations (columns) and capital spending (dots), 2010 to 2025, in US$bn. Meta now forecasts US$135bn to US$145bn of spending in 2026.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/02/71/0271df32-cec6-421f-9f13-b06ab90e54c1/content/images/2026/10/chart-meta-cash-operations-capital-2026-10-22-wide-light.jpg)](https://www.sharespective.com/chart-meta-cash-operations-capital-2026-10-22/) 

This story’s chart of the day: the numbers, the dark version and the animated version are on its own page. [The chart’s page →](https://www.sharespective.com/chart-meta-cash-operations-capital-2026-10-22/)

Spending is the other drain. Meta put US$34.91 billion into data centres and equipment in the quarter. It now expects to spend US$135 billion to US$145 billion this year, with the bottom of the range up from US$130 billion. Free cash flow was negative US$2.12 billion.

Then came the new shares. Every shareholder will get one Class C share for each share they own, starting in January 2027\. Class C shares carry no votes, so Meta can issue them to raise money or pay staff while Mark Zuckerberg keeps control.

Our view 

Meta is creating a share class built for raising money in a quarter when its free cash flow went negative. That tells you how much it expects to spend. We'd want to see the 2027 spending plan before reading much into a 3% move after hours.

[ This story ran in Two for One Thursday 22 October’s edition, with the market snapshot, the other two stories, the numbers and the week ahead. Read the whole edition → ](https://www.sharespective.com/sharespective-2026-10-22/)