Meta executives could earn nearly $1 billion each if they hit goals in pursuit of a $9 trillion valuation
By Claire Zillman
March 28, 2026, 11:38 AM ET
Recent trends in compensation for high-profile executives, such as Tesla's Elon Musk, Axon's Rick Smith, and DoorDash's Tony Xu, have been driven by bold financial targets. These "moonshot" compensation packages offer extraordinary financial rewards in exchange for achieving ambitious company goals.
The underlying rationale of moonshot pay is that traditional salary structures fail to inspire the level of innovation and risk-taking necessary for transforming successful companies into industry leaders. By presenting executives with the chance for substantial financial gain, organizations encourage the pursuit of extraordinary outcomes.
This week, Meta adopted a unique approach by extending such lucrative stock grants to a wider range of senior executives, excluding CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The newly announced stock option program commits to delivering significant financial rewards for meeting the challenging goal of raising Meta's market capitalization from approximately $1.5 trillion to $9 trillion by 2031. Should this ambitious target be met, several high-ranking executives—including Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth, Chief Operating Officer Javier Olivan, Chief Product Officer Chris Cox, Chief Financial Officer Susan Li, Chief Legal Officer C.J. Mahoney, and Vice Chairman Dina Powell McCormick—could be in line to receive stock options valued at up to $625.6 million each, with the total compensation potentially escalating to as much as $921 million due to restricted stock units.
A spokesperson from Meta described this initiative as a “big bet,” emphasizing that the rewards are contingent upon achieving substantial success that benefits all shareholders.
However, some compensation experts have raised concerns regarding such incentive structures. Robin Ferracone, founder and CEO of Farient Advisors, expressed skepticism about moonshot awards, highlighting the heightened risk-taking they may incite, as well as their tendency to concentrate benefits among top executives. Notably, only 11 out of 75 public company executives who received awards exceeding $100 million since 2018 were not CEOs, chairs, or founders.
Ferracone remarked, “One of the reasons I didn’t really like the Elon Musk award is that he can’t do it by himself. He needs a team.”
Moreover, a review conducted in January revealed that these types of compensation packages infrequently yield the exaggerated returns they target. Although Musk and Smith have succeeded in their objectives, others, such as Xu, have fallen short.
Meta's initiative is distinguished by its intention to provide incentives to a broader group of executives, recognizing the collaborative nature essential for the company's progress. As Meta transitions to an AI-centric organization, it encounters numerous challenges and is making significant investments in specialized chips, data centers, and AI talent, all aimed at realizing superintelligence.
Meta anticipates that capital expenditures may reach $135 billion this year, predominantly directed towards its AI pursuits. Zuckerberg envisions AI as a transformative force within the workplace, empowering a reduced workforce to achieve greater efficiencies. He is also reconfiguring team dynamics and reportedly developing a personal AI assistant for himself.
This stock option program conveys a clear directive to the leadership team: “Identify how to leverage AI to create value, and achieve it within the next five years.”
Ultimately, the responsibility resides with Zuckerberg, whose substantial financial interest in the company—estimated at $187 billion—aligns his wealth with Meta's success. Ferracone pointed out, “He’s got so much riding on this through his ownership.” This new compensation framework aims to closely align the interests of other executives with those of the CEO.
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