Meta reports Q3 revenue up 26% YoY to $64.6B, operating income down 37% YoY to $12.99B on a $9.9B AG settlement, and family DAP up 3% YoY to 3.64B for September

Announces Establishment of New Class C Common Stock — Meta Platforms, Inc. (Nasdaq: META) today reported financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2026.

Meta 2026-10-22

Context & Ripple Effects

Meta entered the September quarter after Q2 revenue reached $60.8B while daily active people grew 3%, extending a pattern in which revenue has expanded faster than its user base. The comparable 2025 quarter also posted 26% revenue growth, though earnings were then hit by a separate charge.

The Q3 results pair continued top-line expansion with a $9.89B AG settlement charge and a higher AI-investment commitment. Meta's planned nonvoting Class C shares create a financing route for model development as its 2026 capital-expenditure range rises to $135B-$145B.

First-order effects

The AG settlement charge cuts Meta's reported operating income to $12.99B despite 26% revenue growth, separating operating performance from the quarter's reported profitability.
Meta can pursue additional AI-model funding through nonvoting Class C stock planned for January 2027, while retaining its existing voting structure.

Second-order effects

Meta's higher capital-spending floor directs more of its cash and financing capacity toward AI infrastructure, including the Prometheus supercluster used to train Muse models.
With Q4 revenue guided to $73B-$76B, below the consensus midpoint, investors will weigh the pace of revenue growth against the cost of Meta's AI buildout and the settlement's one-time earnings effect.

Third-order effects

The combination of multibillion-dollar AI infrastructure plans and nonvoting financing points toward a model in which large platforms fund compute expansion without necessarily diluting control over strategic direction.
As user growth moderates relative to revenue growth, Meta's ability to monetize its existing audience becomes more consequential than adding daily users at the earlier pace.

The trend: AI investment is pushing mature consumer platforms to pair monetization of vast existing audiences with increasingly deliberate capital-structure choices for compute spending.

Discussion

@stockmarketnerd Brad Freeman on x
It's easy to shrug off 26% Y/Y growth for $META . But this is not normal... in the best of ways. 23% growth Q3 2023. 19% growth Q3 2024. 26% growth Q3 2025. 26% growth Q3 2026. At a $64.6B revenue base! I repeat: Not. Normal. They are not getting any help from GPU sales/…
@firstadopter Tae Kim on x
Zuckerberg says the most common use case for Muse is shopping and the average purchase size has been over $200. Expects to grow Muse to “billions” of users
@zastocks @zastocks on x
Imagine if there was a company positioned to win big in AI who had 3.6 billion daily active users, $250B in revenue growing over 25%, and a 42 year old Mount Rushmore founder CEO. Oh that's $META.
@matthewkeyslive Matthew Keys on x
Meta's ARPU is only $18. That's nuts. I've seen streaming platforms (Roku) with higher ARPU.
@rogerwcheng Roger Cheng on x
Very confusing to hear Mark Zuckerberg refer to AI as super intelligence, since he previously used super intelligence to describe AGI.
@sixsigmacapital @sixsigmacapital on x
$META pretty solid report, of course some things to pick at. Remember the 1 time $9.89 billion charge also Interestingly, this is their first quarter where they flipped FCF negative... Chart: Fiscal
@munster_gene Gene Munster on x
$META guides Dec revenue 3% higher than Street. Stock up 3%. Guided capex for Dec 15% higher than Street. They were light on Sep capex, came in at $34B vs Street at $41B. The Dec run rate is what matters. They did CY27 yet. The Dec guide implies $225B or higher vs Street at…
@bubbleboi Bubble Boi on x
Thoughts going into Meta Earnings: I think Susan will start to give an actual guide on capex 1-2 years out which should placate some investors. Can't guide too low just need people to know what worst case is. Also I expect some talk on muse monetization and some guidance on AI …
@swiftstories Mike Swift on x
Well, well, on #metaearnings Zuckerberg adopts the term du jour “super intelligence.” In other news, #Threads now has more monthly active users than @X , Zuck says.
@stocksavvyshay Shay Boloor on x
$META just posted negative FCF for the first time in over a decade despite beating revenue estimates by over $1B as AI helped lift ad prices 14%. That's the kind of cash burn I can get behind when Meta's core business keeps getting stronger and management is investing heavily in…
@hedgeyecomm @hedgeyecomm on x
$META remarkable that NA advertising revenue is growing faster than 2019 levels and continues to accelerate despite the business being 3.4x larger... but where is the return on capex spend!?
r/MU_Stock r on reddit
META 2026 Cap Ex Outlook to be in the range of $135-145 billion, narrowed from our prior outlook of $130-145 billion.
@jeremiahdillon Jeremiah Dillon on x
My Instinct agent is always acting kind of pressed, like it's suspicious that I've ghosted it. 👻 Muse keeps simping, even when I ignore it for a week. 🫡 The difference tells you something important.
@edzitron Ed Zitron on x
Cool stuff mark. Any idea how it makes you money?
@kakashiii111 @kakashiii111 on x
Muse, the most expensive toy ever by Meta (and some smart people may ask why it reminds of Manus AI), is draining all of Meta's compute, and they are gonna get more. The problem? Many who downloaded it and tried it have already abandoned it. There is no clear visibility on use…
@munster_gene Gene Munster on x
Zuck reminds investors that Muse (combo of models and agents) will become the center of $META's universe. My take: In three years, Muse will become the lens consumers engage with Instagram, FB, Whats App, Reels.
@munster_gene Gene Munster on x
Today I estimate there are around 10m daily users of Muse. In less than two years I expect it will be over 1B. $META
@grousark Nick Grous on x
Average order value on Amazon: $50. Muse shoppers are averaging 4x higher, at $200+. Agentic commerce may not be a volume game. It may be about driving high-value purchases online. Turns out shopping with an expert raises what you're willing to spend.
@firesidealpha @firesidealpha on x
Mark Zuckerberg says Muse users already bring Meta “several hundreds of dollars” a year each across its family of apps, and Muse itself should eventually earn even more per user, mostly through fees on the shopping it handles
@swiftstories Mike Swift on x
Zuckerberg says the #Muse AI assistant will soon be on Meta Glasses, and will unlock subscription revenue.
@stocksavvyshay Shay Boloor on x
Zuckerberg says Muse is still expensive to run but expects to “improve compute cost efficiency by more than 10-fold over the next year.
@munster_gene Gene Munster on x
Even though there are only around 10m daily Muse users (my estimate), the product is losing a lot of money, more than any other products they've launched. Reading between the lines. Zuckerberg says not to worry, the math will work to build out compute to get to scale to get the…
@wallstengine @wallstengine on x
Mark Zuckerberg says shopping is MUSE's biggest use case so far, with over a quarter of active users engaging in shopping and an average purchase size above $200. $META had to ask Stripe to raise credit limits in the first week because volumes exceeded expectations.
@semaforben Ben Smith on x
Amazing year in the history of capitalism, generally.
@thestalwart Joe Weisenthal on x
$META 's new CAPEX outlook is roughly inline with its old CAPEX outlook, which is fine. But for the last few years, we've been accustomed to companies underestimating their future spending plans.
@firesidealpha @firesidealpha on x
Mark Zuckerberg says 10 million people set up Muse agents in six weeks, a quarter use it daily, and shopping volume was so far above expectations that Meta and Stripe had to raise credit limits in week one
@danielnewmanuv Daniel Newman on x
$META Muse becomes the agentic marketplace and ad revenue generator. Think about the money machine of agents as as consumers versus humans? 💪🏻🚀
@jiahanjimliu Jim Liu on x
$META is going to get very positive ROI from AI and be in the market for a whole lot more compute.
@dangaron Dan Garon on x
Said differently, @finkd wants to retain founder control to protect META from activist investors who may be less inclined to support his long term vision. That is laudable.
@danielnewmanuv Daniel Newman on x
$META delivered a strong quarter. EPS Miss directly attributable to ~$10 billion settlement. Slight raise of capex and a raise on revenue expectations. All good in tech land here. The show goes on.
@thestalwart Joe Weisenthal on x
This paragraph from $META's inside 10-q filling may mark the official announcement that the funding environment for the AI buildout has turned the corner. (HT: Barclays' Alexander Altmann)
Karan S. Karan S. on linkedin
Instagram Reels continued to improve in Q3 towards making Reels more relevant and fresh. Here are a few key callouts from the Meta earnings call today. …
Benjamin Joe Benjamin Joe on linkedin
Meta's Q3 2026 results are out. 📊 Revenue grew 26% year-over-year to $64.6 billion, powered by AI that keeps changing how businesses find and serve customers. …
Artur D. Artur D. on linkedin
Meta reported our Q3 2026 earnings. We generated $64.6B revenue (+26% YoY). Highlights: — 📈 Audience: 3.64B people use at least one of our apps each day (+3% YoY). …
Nicola Mendelsohn CBE Nicola Mendelsohn CBE on linkedin
Q3 earnings are in, and it's been another strong quarter for Meta. A few things that stood out to me, especially for businesses: …
r/europe r on reddit
Meta's Ad Sales Are Suffering Now That Europeans Can Pick Less Personalization

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