Meta Platforms Approves Non-Voting Class C Stock and Raises 2026 AI Spending Plan

Direct Bloomberg, First Squawk, WSJ, and Meta results context support a new, forward-looking announcement: Meta’s board approved a publicly listed non-voting Class C share class, with effectiveness scheduled for January 19, 2027, alongside a contingent one-time stock dividend, while Meta raised full-year 2026 total-expense guidance from $165 billion–$169 billion to $175 billion–$179 billion and set capital-expenditure guidance at $135 billion–$145 billion. The wording is corrected from “established” to “approved” because the new class and dividend remain subject to the stated future effectiveness date. I do not classify this as a completed equity financing because the provided evidence documents a stock dividend and future financing flexibility, but no completed external offering or proceeds; the central forward-looking situation is Meta’s expanded AI investment strategy, so business_strategy is the best type for this consolidated announcement. Importance and surprise are high but below a completed major financing shock because the AI spending trajectory was partly telegraphed and the financing mechanics remain future-effective. The timestamp uses the direct-feed announcement timestamp as the best proxy because the exact board-action time is not separately stated. Approved stakeholders are limited to Meta and high-confidence AI infrastructure beneficiaries with a clear causal link to the larger AI investment budget; lower-confidence competitors, utilities, and second-order suppliers are excluded.