Meta Lays Off 700 Employees From Different Divisions, Rewards Top Executives With Stock Options
· Free Press Journal
Meta laid off several hundred employees, in a sweeping reorganisation spanning five of its major business units, even as the company rewarded its top executives with lucrative new stock incentives the night before.
The cuts hit across Facebook, global operations, recruiting, sales, and the company's virtual reality division, Reality Labs, according to New York Times. The layoffs reflect Meta's sharpening pivot toward artificial intelligence and away from legacy headcount-heavy operations.
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Executives rewarded before the axe fell
In a move that drew sharp attention, Meta disclosed in corporate filings, hours before the layoffs were announced, that it was granting stock options to six of its most senior leaders for the first time since the company's 2012 IPO. Finance head Susan Li, Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth, Chief Product Officer Christopher Cox, and Chief Operating Officer Javier Olivan are among the recipients of the new stock option incentive programme.
Meta Plans To Layoff 16,000 Workers As Company Looks To Leverage AI To Cut CostsThe programme allows executives to reap the full value of their options only if Meta's market capitalisation reaches $9 trillion by 2031, up from approximately $1.5 trillion today. CEO Mark Zuckerberg is not part of the programme. "This is a big bet. These pay packages will not be realised unless Meta achieves massive future success," a Meta spokesperson said.
AI as the North Star
Earlier this year, Zuckerberg signalled more investment and a greater reliance on AI, saying in a January Facebook post that AI will make a significant impact on the business in 2026, adding that he was already seeing "projects that used to require big teams now be accomplished by a single very talented person."
Meta revealed in its fourth-quarter earnings report that AI-related capital expenditure in 2026 will range between $115 billion and $135 billion, roughly double what it spent in 2025.
Mark Zuckerberg Builds An AI Agent CEO To Help Him Run MetaBigger cuts still possible
This latest job cut round is widely seen as the beginning, not the end. Reports from earlier in March indicated Meta was considering cuts affecting 20 percent or more of its roughly 79,000-person workforce, a figure that would eliminate approximately 15,800 positions. Meta called those reports speculative.
A Meta spokesperson told NYT in a statement that "teams across Meta regularly restructure or implement changes to ensure they're in the best position to achieve their goals," adding that the company would be working to find other opportunities for employees whose positions may be impacted.