Meta Q3 revenue climbs 26% to $64.6B, beats estimates; Muse accounts top 10 million

Meta Platforms (META) said Wednesday its third-quarter revenue rose 26% to $64.60 billion, above the $63.34 billion expected by analysts, as net income more than tripled to $9.86 billion, or $3.83 per share. Excluding a $9.89 billion charge tied to an $18 billion settlement with 48 U.S. states over social media's effects on teen mental health, earnings would have been $7.40 per share. The year-ago quarter included a one-time tax charge of nearly $16 billion. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said more than 10 million people in the U.S. and Canada have set up accounts for Muse, the personal AI agent launched in August. Daily active users across Meta's family of apps averaged 3.64 billion, up 3%, and headcount fell 15% year-over-year to 66,775 as of Sept. 30. Meta forecast current-quarter revenue of $73 billion to $76 billion, with the midpoint above the $73.65 billion analysts expect. Shares rose 2.9% after hours after closing up 0.5%.