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A hot potato: Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg has described 2025 as “an intense year” as the company looks to streamline its business. Part of that involves laying off 5% of its workforce, close to 4,000 people. The company is also giving its executives more money, having just approved a plan giving them bigger bonuses – up to 200% of their base salary.
According to an SEC filing submitted yesterday, Meta has approved an increase in the target bonus percentage for its annual bonus plan for executives.
The new plan increases execs’ bonus packages from 75% to 200% of their base pay.
The filing states the Compensation, Nominating & Governance Committee of the Company’s Board of Directors approved the plan on February 13. It determined that the target total cash compensation for Meta executives was at or below the “15th percentile of the target total cash compensation of executives holding similar positions” at peer companies.
The new plan is designed to “motivate its executive officers to focus on company priorities and to reward them for company results and achievements.”
The bonus scheme does not apply to Zuckerberg. The CEO has chosen to take a symbolic $1-per-year salary since 2013, with the majority of this wealth coming from his ownership of Meta stock.
It’s certainly not like Zuckerberg needs bonuses. With his net worth tied to Meta’s performance, he is now worth $245 billion. That makes him the world’s second-wealthiest individual ahead of Jeff Bezos ($243 billion) and behind leader Elon Musk ($397 billion).
In January, Zuckerberg said that Meta made the decision to move out its low performers faster. That meant 5% of its workforce, or around 3,625 people, were being let go.
While Meta claimed only low-performing workers were being laid off, Business Insider reported that several employees who said they received positive performance ratings in their midyear reviews last year lost their jobs.
Eight terminated employees said they received “At or Above Expectations” ratings – the middle tier in Meta’s three-level midyear review system – in their 2024 assessments. Meta’s response was that just because someone had a history of meeting or exceeding expectations, it does not mean they continue to consistently meet the bar.
“Employees at Meta have always been held accountable to a goal-based culture of high performance,” the company added.
Meta also said those being released would be replaced by new hires in 2025, though Zuckerberg’s appearance on the Joe Rogan show to extol the benefits of AI and how it can replace mid-level engineers doesn’t exactly instill confidence. No wonder he was recently deemed more disliked than Elon Musk.
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