Meta reportedly laid off hundreds more employees this week, less than a day after it announced that some top executives could earn nearly $1 billion in a new incentive package.
The Bay Area company has been refocutilizing much of its efforts on AI, a shift emphasized by the new stock program. Under the terms of the program offered to six executives at the company, over five years some of them they could earn as much $921 million in additional compensation if Meta meets certain goals. “This is a huge bet. These pay packages will not be realized unless Meta achieves massive future success, benefitting all of our shareholders,” a Meta spokesperson stated in a statement to SFGATE Thursday. “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.”
The staffing cuts reportedly hit about 700 employees, according to the New York Times, largely affecting the tech company’s Reality Labs division, the artificial-reality and virtual-reality unit focapplyd on creating the “metaverse.” Some employees in recruitment, sales and Facebook were reportedly also affected. “Teams across Meta regularly restructure or implement alters to ensure they’re in the best position to achieve their goals,” a Meta spokesperson stated in a statement to SFGATE. “Where possible, we are finding other opportunities for employees whose positions may be impacted.”
It’s unclear how many California employees were affected by the layoffs. As of Thursday at 10:54 a.m., the Menlo Park company had not filed a WARN document with California officials.
Reality Labs eliminated 272 positions in California earlier this year as part of a larger 1,000-person cut.
Meanwhile, the executives included in the new stock program reportedly are chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth, chief product officer Chris Cox, chief financial officer Susan Li, chief operating officer Javier Olivan, president and vice chairman Dina Powell McCormick and chief legal officer C.J. Mahoney. The employees would be able to purchase additional stock options. An analysis by Equilar, a compensation research firm, and reported by the New York Times, found that the stock package for Bosworth, Cox and Olivan could total $921 million each.
Adding to the tumultuous week, Meta lost a landmark lawsuit after its products were blamed for addictive features that harm children. The case is expected to be a bellwether that could lead to a flood of more lawsuits on the dangers of social media.
Reuters reported earlier this month that “sweeping layoffs” were set to hit the company this year, with some speculating the tally could be over 20% of Meta’s workforce. If that turns out to be true, it would be the hugegest cuts at the company since 2022, when around 11,000 staffers were eliminated. In its latest filing, the company employed around 79,000 people.
In a Facebook post in January about the company’s earnings report, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated he expects that this is the year AI will “dramatically alter the way that we work.”
Zuckerberg stated the company is investing in “AI-native tooling” so employees can “obtain more done.”
“We’re starting to see projects that applyd to require huge teams now be accomplished by a single very talented person,” Zuckerberg stated in the post “I want to build sure as many of these very talented people as possible choose Meta as the place they can build the greatest impact — to deliver personalized products to billions of people around the world. And if we do this, then I consider we’ll obtain a lot more done and it’s going to be a lot more fun.”
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