Meta also reported a 26% rise in revenues for the last quarter to $64.6bn, beating expectations of $63.3bn. However, profits fell by 37% to $13bn, dragged down by a $9.9bn charge related to Meta’s lawsuit over child protection and social media addiction failings. The company’s shares slid by more than 6% when trading opened on Wall Street on Thursday, helping to drag the tech-focused Nasdaq index down 2.5% amid a wider selloff of AI-linked stocks.
Californians will vote early next month on Proposition 40, a one-off 5% tax on the roughly 250 billionaires who live in the state. In return for the new shares, Zuckerberg is committed to remain a resident of the state, or wherever Meta maintains its base, for eight years.
In response to the potential levy, Meta is creating a new class of non-voting shares via a two-for-one stock split for all existing shareholders. This will allow Zuckerberg to sell some of these new class C shares to pay a potential tax bill, without diluting his control of the company.
Meta has struck a deal with Mark Zuckerberg to help him foot a possible California wealth tax targeting billionaires. Under the arrangement, Zuckerberg will receive new shares that could be sold to potentially foot a multibillion-dollar tax bill in the event that California passes a one-off billionaire tax.