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 (+14%) and prices (+10%) and growing daily users drove the top linestocktitan.netstocktitan.net. Operating income was healthy ($20.535 billion, ~40% margin)stocktitan.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 billion (EPS $7.25)stocktitan.netstocktitan.net. Behind the scenes, Meta’s broader
