Meta Introduces 200% Exec Bonus Scheme Amid Layoffs 

Meta may have recently slashed up to five percent of its workforce, but that hasn’t stopped the company from introducing a lucrative new executive bonus scheme.

According to a recent SEC filing, executive officers at Meta can now get up to 200% of their base salary in the form of an annual performance-based payout, up from 75%. Meta says the move was based on its analysis of executive compensation at comparable companies, as well as input from its “independent compensation consultant.” 

The filing said the “variable cash incentives” are meant to “motivate its executive officers to focus on company priorities” and “reward them for company results and achievements.” The decision to boost executive compensation won’t impact CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s personal pay packet according to the filing.

Meta’s US-based employees started to get the news that they were being laid off earlier this month, with their severance packages including 16 weeks of pay, with an extra two weeks for each year of service.  Zuckerberg claimed in an internal memo leaked to Bloomberg that the cuts, impacting as many as 3,600 people, were meant to eliminate those who were not “meeting expectations over the course of a year.”

The CEO added that 2025 was set to be an “intense year,” pointing to the company’s work in AI and smart glasses, saying he wants to “make sure we have the best people on our teams.”

Layoffs are just one of the issues impacting rank-and-file Meta employees. Meta also recently opted to reduce its annual distribution of stock options by about 10 percent for most of its staff, The Financial Times reports, reducing the total compensation of tens of thousands of employees.

The news of larger executive payouts comes as Meta is recording some of its highest-ever profits. The company reported a net income of $62 billion in its 2024 financial year, a 59% year-over-year increase, while revenues were also up 22%.

But executive compensation isn’t the only area where Meta is still willing to spend big. Meta announced in January it plans to invest as much as $65 billion on AI infrastructure in 2025, including making numerous new hires into artificial intelligence roles and building a 1-gigawatt data center that is almost as big as Manhattan.

About Will McCurdy

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I’m a reporter covering weekend news. Before joining PCMag in 2024, I picked up bylines in BBC News, The Guardian, The Times of London, The Daily Beast, Vice, Slate, Fast Company, The Evening Standard, The i, TechRadar, and Decrypt Media.

I’ve been a PC gamer since you had to install games from multiple CD-ROMs by hand. As a reporter, I’m passionate about the intersection of tech and human lives. I’ve covered everything from crypto scandals to the art world, as well as conspiracy theories, UK politics, and Russia and foreign affairs.

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