New York, January 12, 2026, 09:50 EST — Regular session.
- Meta shares were down about 0.1% in early trade after naming Dina Powell McCormick president and vice chairman.
- Zuckerberg said Powell McCormick will help Meta finance and build out AI and infrastructure.
- Investors are also tracking a tougher global regulatory backdrop, including new age-gating moves abroad.
Meta Platforms, Inc. shares edged lower on Monday after the company named former Goldman Sachs executive Dina Powell McCormick as president and vice chairman, a high-profile hire as the social media group pours money into artificial intelligence infrastructure. The stock was down 0.1% at $652.24, after trading between $645.26 and $656.31.
The appointment matters because Meta is trying to line up capital, power and political support for what it calls multi-billion-dollar investments in compute and data centers. Mark Zuckerberg said Powell McCormick’s global relationships make her “uniquely suited” for Meta’s “next phase of growth,” and he flagged a focus on working with governments and sovereigns to build and finance AI and infrastructure. (Axios)
The role is also a signal to investors who have been asking how fast Meta can scale its buildout without letting costs outrun revenue, at a time when the market has little patience for open-ended spending plans.
Powell McCormick’s move into management comes weeks after she resigned from Meta’s board, Reuters reported. She spent 16 years in senior roles at Goldman Sachs and previously served as deputy national security adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump in his first term. (Reuters)
The stock move played out against a softer tape. Wall Street’s main indexes opened lower on Monday after renewed attacks on the Federal Reserve stirred worries about central bank independence, with the Nasdaq down 0.4% at the open. (Reuters)
For Meta traders, the near-term question is whether the new president role points to a more aggressive push for strategic financing, partnerships and large-scale build decisions — or whether it is mostly a governance tweak that leaves the earnings story unchanged.
Outside the C-suite shuffle, Meta is still juggling policy pressure overseas. In Australia, the company said it removed about 550,000 accounts across Instagram, Facebook and Threads to comply with a ban on under-16s holding social media accounts, ahead of government data expected this week. (ABC)
That kind of enforcement drive can cut both ways: it may reduce political heat, but it can also dent engagement metrics in specific markets and add compliance costs, with rules still shifting across regions.
The bigger risk for the stock remains that AI spending rises faster than ad growth, or that regulatory fights force product changes that hit targeting and measurement — the plumbing behind Meta’s ad engine.
The next hard catalyst is earnings. Meta has not confirmed a date, but Wall Street Horizon currently lists an unconfirmed report on Jan. 28 after the close; investors will be looking for any update on 2026 expense and capital spending plans, and whether ad demand is holding up into the new year. (Wall Street Horizon)
