Meta Offers Stock Options to Top Executives for First Time Since 2012 IPO

Meta Platforms Inc. offered top executives stock options for the first time since its 2012 IPO, an effort to retain and compensate executives as the company continues to spend aggressively to compete in the heated AI race.

The awards, granted on March 20, include multi-tranche stock options to buy Class A shares at exercise prices ranging from $1,116.08 to $3,727.12 per share. Meta shares closed at $592.92 on March 24. That means the lowest tranche requires Meta's stock to climb at least 88.2% to $1,116.08 per share, while the most aggressive tranche demands a more than six-times jump, requiring the stock to hit $3,727.12.

The options vest based first on Meta's share price performance through February 14, 2028, then on a time-based schedule through August 15, 2030, in each case subject to continued service.

The incentive plan covers Chief Financial Officer Susan Li, Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth, Chief Product Officer Chris Cox, and Chief Operating Officer Javier Olivan, according to SEC filings. President Dina Powell McCormick and Chief Legal Officer Curtis Mahoney are also eligible for the options. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg is not part of the plan.

Most of the named executives will also receive additional restricted stock. All executives except McCormick and Mahoney, who joined Meta in January, will also receive an increase in restricted stock awards worth a total $170 million at last close, which vest quarterly. Chief Accounting Officer Aaron Anderson will receive restricted stock only, with no options. McCormick and Mahoney are eligible for options but were excluded from the restricted stock award increases due to their recent start dates.

Meta framed the packages as contingent on performance that would benefit the broader shareholder base. "This is a big bet," a Meta spokesperson said. "These pay packages will not be realized unless Meta achieves massive future success, benefitting all of our shareholders. 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 company spent much of 2025 reorganizing its AI efforts, and also invested $14.3 billion in Scale AI, hiring its founder Alexandr Wang to lead a new AI unit called Meta Superintelligence Labs. Meta is offering high pay packages to attract top AI researchers and plans to spend up to $135 billion in 2026 on AI infrastructure. The stock option grants extend that talent competition to the company's most senior executives, tying their largest potential payouts directly to whether Meta can outpace rivals OpenAI and Alphabet Inc.'s Google over the next five years.