Meta Plans a New Class of Non-Voting Shares to Fund AI Spending Without Diluting Zuckerberg's Control, per FT
Meta wants to sell stock that carries no say
Meta, $META, plans to create a new class of non-voting shares, allowing it to sell stock to fund its AI spending without diluting Mark Zuckerberg's control of the company, per the Financial Times.
Meta already runs a dual-class structure in which Zuckerberg's Class B shares carry ten votes each, giving him majority voting control with a far smaller economic stake. A new non-voting class would let the company raise equity capital for its enormous AI buildout while leaving that control math completely untouched.
Equity joins the AI funding stack
The plan shows how many funding taps Meta is opening at once. The company has guided 2026 capital spending to $130 to $145 billion, issued billions in bonds as part of a record year for AI-linked corporate debt, and now, per the FT, is preparing to sell stock that asks investors for money without offering them any governance in return. Alphabet set the precedent a decade ago with its non-voting Class C shares, which trade alongside its voting classes.
Investors will have to decide how much the discount for zero votes matters. Non-voting classes typically trade at a modest discount, and index providers have at times pushed back on multi-class structures, but Meta's stock just jumped 5% on stronger than expected earnings, and demand for exposure to its AI spending has rarely been the problem.
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Options market and stocks to watch
A new share class is a capital-structure story for Meta itself, and options traders will watch for how the new class is priced against the existing voting shares if and when it lists. The bigger read is sector-wide: the largest AI spenders are layering equity, bonds, and securitized debt to fund data centers, which keeps the spotlight on Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon funding plans too. Follow developments on the Unusual Whales news feed.
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