Meta’s Stock Plunges 6% After Shocking Q3 Earnings: AI Costs and $15B Tax Bombshell
Meta’s Q3 report was thus a mixed bag: revenue and ad metrics were strong, but headline profit was crushed by accounting nuances. As a press release noted, higher ad impressions and prices and growing daily users drove the top linestocktitan.netstocktitan.net. Operating income was healthystocktitan.net. But the outsized tax charge – tied to new U.S. tax rules – depressed reported net income to just $2.71 billion and EPS $1.05stocktitan.net. Management explained the charge arose from a valuation allowance on deferred taxes; excluding it, Q3 net income would have been $18.64 billionstocktitan.netstocktitan.net.
