Meta Offers Execs Stock Options as It Seeks $9 Trillion Valuation

Meta is reportedly offering stock options to top executives as it steps up its AI initiatives.

As the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Wednesday (March 25), this program allows executives to reap the full value of their options only if Meta’s market capitalization reaches $9 trillion by 2031, up from $1.5 trillion today.

The executives in question include Chief Financial Officer Susan Li, Chief Product Officer Chris Cox, Chief Operating Officer Javier Olivan, Vice Chairman Dina Powell McCormick, Chief Technology Officer Andew Bosworth and Chief Legal Officer C.J. Mahoney, the report said.

Meta told the WSJ that Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s multi-billionaire co-founder and CEO, is not part of the program.

“This is a big bet. These pay packages will not be realized unless Meta achieves massive future success, benefiting all of our shareholders,” a Meta spokesman said. “As with all stock options, there is only value if the share price meaningfully exceeds the exercise price, and in this case, it must be on an exceedingly aggressive 5-year timeline.”

As the WSJ notes, the artificial intelligence (AI) race has led to a surge in compensation costs at Meta. The company began aggressively recruiting AI researchers last year, with pay packages worth millions and in some cases close to $1 billion.

This month also saw a report from Reuters that Meta was planning layoffs that could affect at least 20% of its staff. Those cuts are happening as the company is trying to offset its spending on AI infrastructure. A spokesperson for Meta called the Reuters report “speculative reporting about theoretical approaches.”

In related news, Meta’s Bosworth said Tuesday (March 24) that he was overseeing the company’s efforts to adopt AI tools throughout its workforce.

Writing in a post on X, Bosworth said Meta has been integrating AI tools company-wide and expects them to give workers more power to do their work.

“On a personal note, working with these tools reminds me of the feeling I had when I first learned to code as a teenager,” he added. “It feels like a secret superpower. I want everyone in every role to have that same feeling so my goal is to build the tools that empower everyone at the company as part of my role as CTO.”

The PYMNTS Intelligence report “Generation AI: Why Gen Z Bets Big and Boomers Hold Back” found that roughly two-thirds of zoomers and zillennials, 37% of Gen Xers and 1 out of every 10 baby boomers are using generative AI into both their workdays and personal lives.