Meta Q3 Profit Slashed by $15.93B Tax Charge

Meta reported Q3 revenue of about $51.2 billion (up 26%) but took a one-time, non-cash $15.93 billion tax charge tied to President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill that cut reported net income to $2.71 billion and EPS to $1.05; excluding the charge, Meta said Q3 net income would have been roughly $18.64 billion (EPS $7.25). The surprise charge helped push results below analyst expectations and sent shares down about 6–9% in after‑hours trading. The company raised full‑year capital‑expenditure guidance to $70–72 billion (midpoint ~ $71 billion) and warned 2026 capex and overall expenses will be “notably larger” as it builds AI compute, data‑center capacity and hires talent. Management said the tax law change should materially reduce future U.S. federal cash tax payments while recognizing a valuation allowance against U.S. deferred tax assets under the Corporate AMT. Leadership reiterated heavy, sustained investment in AI, reorganized efforts under a Superintelligence Labs structure, and said it will accept near‑term margin pressure from higher compensation and compute costs while planning to redeploy excess AI capacity into core business if superintelligence timelines extend.