CLAIM #41964 · Meta Platforms Inc. (META) · 2025Q3 earnings call · Oct 29, 2025 · due Dec 31, 2026
“Employee compensation costs will be the second largest contributor to growth.”
Susan Li · CFO
How to check this claim
Look at: Ranking of expense growth drivers by dollar contribution to total expense growth, fiscal year 2026 vs 2025
It came true if: Employee compensation costs is the second-largest contributor to total expense dollar growth, behind infrastructure costs (cloud + depreciation)
Where: Management commentary on expense drivers (10-K / Q4 2026 earnings call)
In context
“ty. As we have begun to plan for next year, it's become clear that our compute needs have continued to expand meaningfully, including versus our own expectations last quarter. We are still working through our capacity plans for next year, but we expect to invest aggressively to meet these needs, both by building our own infrastructure and contracting with third-party cloud providers. We anticipate this will provide further upward pressure on our CapEx and expense plans next year. As a result, our current expectation is that CapEx dollar growth will be notably larger in 2026 than 2025. We also anticipate total expenses will grow at a significantly faster percentage rate a than 2025, with growth primarily driven by infrastructure costs, including incremental cloud expenses and depreciation. Employee compensation costs will be the second largest contributor to growth. As we recognize a full year of compensation for employees hired throughout 2025, particularly AI talent and add technical talent in priority areas. Finally, we continue to monitor active legal and regulatory matters, including the increasing headwinds in the EU and the U.S. that could significantly impact our business and financial results. For example, in the EU, we continue to engage constructively with the European Commission on our less personalized ads offering. However, we cannot rule out the commission imposing further changes to that offering that could have a significant negative impact on our European revenue as early as this quarter. In the U.S., a number of youth-related trials are scheduled for 2026 and may ultimately result in a material loss. In closing, this was another go”
Verify independently
SEC filings for META ↗ · Claim quote is verbatim from the 2025Q3 earnings call.