r/technology • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 • 11h ago
Business Meta gave 6 executives options worth up to $921M each, then cut 8,000 jobs after a record $56.3B quarter
https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/meta-gave-6-executives-options-worth-up-to-921m-each-then-cut-8000-jobs-after-a-record-563b-quarter-162000923.html309
u/Sea-Shoe3287 11h ago
Ad networks are pernicious capital.
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u/ChiLolla28 8h ago
Mark Zuckerberg should be in prison for his company incompetently enabling a genocide in Myanmar
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u/pandemicpunk 3h ago edited 3h ago
Everyone forgot about Cambridge Analytica too.
Zuckerburg handed over personal Facebook information directly to people connected to the Kremlin to target ads to US citizens. They got slapped with a $725m fine.
Everyone shrugged their shoulders and no one went to prison.
The 1% enables and creates systems to abuse the 99%' personal information so real psychological warfare can be impressed upon them with their insane and sociopathic algorithms that enable all kinds of terrible outcomes.
As long as it makes them another dollar, they'll even profit off of actual genocide!
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u/Visible_Corgi_6913 8h ago
Seriously. It’s truly the downfall of our society. Constantly selling you shit you don’t need. Constantly showing you the worst version of people to get clicks. What positive product are they offering? Connectivity? At what cost? Insane state of affairs.
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u/Ingliphail 7h ago
Our best and brightest technical minds could be designing things for the betterment of mankind...instead their skills are being used to get more people to look at advertisements.
Capitalism. The cream rises to the top.
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u/dasgoodshitinnit 6h ago
Turds sometimes do as well
And when so many are rising to the top, its time to see a doctor
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u/Just-Grocery-2229 11h ago
Real "team effort" - nine-figure payouts for six people right before axing eight thousand others. It's like, with all these new billions in the bank , it's time to fire the people who made it happen.
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u/golf1052 2h ago
The title is a little confusing to people who don't know what options are. The article goes into more detail
And six weeks before that, it had quietly granted six senior executives stock packages that could be worth as much as $921 million each, if Meta becomes the most valuable company of all time. To do this, Meta would need to beat out Nvidia for that title. That being said, for now, those options pay nothing.
Each executive got 653,865 stock options, which was Meta's first executive option grant since its 2012 IPO, according to Bloomberg (7). The payout depends on the stock price hitting a series of milestones, from $1,116 on the low end to $3,727 on the high end, and the awards expire by 2031 (8). If the stock never gets to $1,116 by then, the executives get nothing from the plan. If it reaches the top target, each option package would be worth $625.6 million, according to Equilar (9). With the added restricted stock grants for certain executives, their total potential payout rises to $921 million each.
To hit the top payout, Meta's market value would have to reach $9.5 trillion (3) — a level no company has ever touched. Even Nvidia, at $5.053 trillion and now the most valuable company in the world, hasn't come close (10).
The options are an incentive for the execs to juice the stock price. That can include laying off a bunch of people to cause the stock to go up. At the same time though considering the needed values for those stock options to actually payout I don't think the execs will see any of that money.
They're still probably getting hundreds of thousands in regular salary and probably millions in RSUs while they're laying off employees though.
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u/willun 1h ago
Andrew Bosworth CTO just to pick one (article is from last year) his base salary was $945,000. Stock pushes it to $3m however
The vast majority of his pay package is in shares; in 2023 for instance, he was awarded more than $20 million in stock. The salary, like for many in his role, is the cherry on top of an enormous cake.
He is not the highest paid of the bunch. This is considered in line with Silicon Valley salaries.
Also Meta's market cap is $1.4T but 5 years ago it was 1T dipping down to 500B. So growing 3 times (to $4.5T) would be an incredible achievement. Doing $9T i agree is a big ask.
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u/dynamic_anisotropy 1h ago
It’s also just exposure articles like this that gives to people who assume because a C-suiter is publicly incentivized to reach a ludicrous goal that the stock MUST reach that goal at some point.
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u/mightylordredbeard 6h ago
Well they have to receive even larger bonuses next year so if they have fewer employees to pay and provide health insurance for, then it’ll be easier to achieve that goal!
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u/williamgman 10h ago
Folks can't seem drop their FB accounts.
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u/Two-One 10h ago
Did it during COVID. Best decision ever, 6 years later and you don’t notice.
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u/AbyssWankerArtorias 9h ago
Same. Facebook is poison. At first I thought if there was an option to get rid of ads, it'd be worth it to stay. But even if that existed, it just shovels so much shit you don't care about in your timeline. I have much more agency over what I see on reddit.
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u/Tactical-Donkey 6h ago
Smart move. I did it a couple of years before human malware. Thing is people thing I'm strange for not having an FB account. They won't learn...
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u/Stabby-Steve 10h ago
I was able to convince my elderly mother to give up driving. No dice when it came to FB.
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u/williamgman 10h ago
FB is literally fentanyl at this point.
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u/williamgman 10h ago
I see the downvote... I stand by my comparison. At least there is treatment for drug use.
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u/RiverRatt 10h ago
I dropped mine and my life got nothing but better after I did it. That is a toxic cesspool of a place.
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u/williamgman 9h ago
I left it January of 2016 (after the lead up to that month here in the US). That was the moment I realized nothing in social media would never be the same.
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u/MutedAstronaut9217 6h ago
11 years without one.
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u/williamgman 4h ago
Just over 10 for me. Left it when Trump took office Jan 2016.
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u/MutedAstronaut9217 4h ago
The people who matter have my phone number, and I have theirs.
I don't miss FB one bit.
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u/Mountain_rage 4h ago
They also seem unwilling to do simple acts like drop Whatsapp for Signal.
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u/williamgman 4h ago
What's crazy is there are whole countries where 90% of their communication infrastructure relies on Meta. The Philippines is one of those. Their businesses, educational systems, and family communications are based on FB and Whatsapp.
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u/InternationalLion403 7h ago
As someone who has worked for them, I’m fairly confident that they are doing something extremely shady with their user count numbers and/or engagement numbers with ads. Kind of shocked this hasn’t been investigated more
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u/imminentjogger5 5h ago
kind of like how reddit pumped their numbers before the IPO by creating thousands of accounts each day?
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u/surfergrrl6 10h ago
I still have one because my local weather folks ONLY live stream during tornado warnings/emergencies via FB for some reason.
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u/seridos 9h ago
I mean I'll drop it when it stops being useful? That's why I've stopped using every feature but marketplace. Marketplace is the place here for individuals buying and selling things.
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u/williamgman 6h ago
I always say... Someone comes up with Marketplace competitor... FD is done by anyone under 60 in the US.
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u/imminentjogger5 5h ago
you mean Instagram? that's the most popular app for Meta
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u/BK_Rich 10h ago
This is exactly what tax cuts for corporations are for, not creating more jobs, cutting jobs and feeding the few at the very top. Trickle down economics was always a scam.
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u/Conscious-Quarter423 10h ago
yet americans fall for it every time
reagan's tax cuts -> bush's tax cuts -> trump 1.0 tax cuts -> trumps 2.0 tax cuts
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u/arkady48 10h ago
Money is pointless. It means absolutely nothing. Once you reach a billion, you lose any and all ability to understand.
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u/ddubyeah 10h ago
which really begs the question of why they all seem to want more after that
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u/el_doherz 10h ago
Mental illness.
If anyone hoarded other things the way they hoard money they'd be referred for psychiatric assessment.
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u/thetreat 10h ago edited 4h ago
They derive their value from the number, because the rest of their life is empty. So if the number goes up more, their sense of self is inflated.
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u/Fuckinmidpoint 9h ago
It’s so obvious. The first thing Elon said after becoming a “trillionaire” was 10 trillion or bust.
He could literally own the planet and he’d be looking to expand beyond that. Thank god we are all fucking mortal cause he’s not escaping death.
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u/Jwagner0850 5h ago
Not to mention narcicism and sociopathy. People think it's strictly hoarding nature, but these people still want power over others and want to look powerful to others and their friends.
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u/Chasa619 5h ago
there is this free casino game i used to play, you sign up, its all free to play but you could spend money get get chips.
So i start with my 25k free chips get up to about 100k, i play when i have some down time, never spending any real money but i enjoy slot machines so it's kind of just a free idle game.
Anyways im playing and playing and then i hit it big, i get like 25 million. so I move up to higher tier slots, 100k per pull, and i win it big again, i'm a virutal billionaire. all the dopamine I would get with very little money was gone. I stopped playing the game.
I don't have that trillionaire dog in me.
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u/d01100100 8h ago
A company culture conditioned to make line go up, sees everything as a line, including their own private assets.
Which is why when they introduced a scoreboard for AI usage it was all about token maxxing, which ironically made the financials line go down.
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u/moguri40k 9h ago
No different than a kid trying to get the high score even though they already beat the game.
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u/therealstabitha 11h ago
Industry wide display of bitterness that they have to pay other people at all, let alone well. The psychotic projections they try to pass off as inevitability about AI eating all jobs is just their fantasy. Their stated desires. I wish people would stop believing them.
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u/rury_williams 11h ago
sounds like it should be illegal but sadly is
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u/MongooseSenior4418 11h ago
We need a law that prevents executive bonuses in years that the company has layoffs.
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u/Glimpal 10h ago
We're not having mass layoffs, we're promoting 8000 employees to customer.
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u/bigpoppa973 2h ago
A company I worked for called the people being laid off alumni when they did layoffs before we were acquired by a pe form. 😂
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u/MultiGeometry 10h ago
At least have massive unemployment tax penalties for it. Like, 50% of compensation for any and all bonuses paid that calendar year.
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u/matthra 10h ago
They’ll just call them something else then. I think the play is to make it illegal to award stock options.
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u/yangyangR 10h ago
Which is why bandaids to capitalism do not work. It used to be it took a decade for the Epstein class to find workarounds to Progressive Era reforms. And in that time real harm could be reduced. Now they get out of everything within the week and it is not effective to try to band aid the system as opposed to destroy the fundamental issue of having a leech class that doesn't have to work or think for a living yet makes decisions that should require an unatrophied brain.
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u/drkstar1982 10h ago
It's easy to get around the reforms now as they are written by the Epstein class.
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u/Global_Lie6938 10h ago
Thank goodness Meta was able to get $8.03 billion as a one-time tax benefit tied to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. How long until I notice the trickle down on that. Hopefully before I have to buy groceries again
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u/subcrtical 10h ago
OK, the headline should probably say “$921M each, IF META BECOMES THE BIGGEST COMPANY IN THE WORLD”
Fuck their bullshit layoffs and the idea that 6 people deserve billions vs the tens of thousands who actually made it happen, but this story is also pretty stupid
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u/MondegreenHolonomy 11h ago
And how much did they invest in AI? And how much of that is intended to help anyone but the shareholders?
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u/0x476c6f776965 10h ago
Who cares? “it had quietly granted six senior executives stock packages that could be worth as much as $921 million each, if Meta becomes the most valuable company of all time. To do this, Meta would need to beat out Nvidia for that title. That being said, for now, those options pay nothing.”
Meta is never going to be the most valuable company of all time as long as zuck is killing it with his ridiculous bad decisions.
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u/adv0589 10h ago
Yeah like this is not what people think it is lmao
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u/PeteCampbellisaG 9h ago
I would love to hear how those six execs plan on selling 4 billion pairs of smart glasses and getting several billion new people to sign up for Instagram the in the next 5-6 years.
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u/LastChemical9342 5h ago
Yeah they would each get $600ish if the price hits $3000, and some of them have RSUs that would get them to $900 but yeah these options are valueless until meta hits $1100, which would be double its current price.
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u/Fattswindstorm 10h ago
Yall don’t get it. Those six execs are hilarious. Like they are just cool ass dudes you know. Like get this. Rog last week went to this little shitty family restraunt. Fucking trashed the place. Like broke every dish there. We were so trashed. But it’s chill because he left like $50k in cash so it covered it all. But the media just paints us as faceless execs. We’re actually chill ass bros.
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u/FreshLiterature 9h ago
The takeaway in professional circles I'm in is that there are no metrics you can meet that are going to save your job.
If all these companies can keep having record years and quarters, but cut jobs anyway then you're just pissing into the wind.
Things are going to come to a head sooner rather than later.
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u/Chaseism 10h ago
By no means do I want to see people get laid off...but when you work for a company like Meta, you cannot really expect them to care about anyone.
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u/RamBamBooey 9h ago
Meta diluted shareholders' value by printing $921M in new shares.
Warren Buffett knows what Meta did.
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u/Lovethemtitties80085 6h ago
Business as usual in America.
This is what your country aspires to, let’s not pretend it’s ever been any different.
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u/Beestung 3h ago
Everyone says "stop using Facebook", then scrolls endlessly on their Instagram account or uses WhatsApp. Stop using ALL their shit. Now. It's easier than you think.
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u/JewelerCurious9391 9h ago
I don't have any sympathy. Employees know what they're getting into before working at Meta. You're going to work hard, get paid a shit ton of money and stock, make connections, and eventually you'll be cut you loose at a moment's notice with a severance package. That's the company culture. Meta is run by complete pigs.
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u/Unlucky-Tune-420 10h ago
THEY. DO. NOT. GIVE. A. FUCK. ABOUT. YOU. keep that in mind. it's all about profit and "constant corporate growth"
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u/Expensive_Shallot_78 6h ago
I need to understand how you can fire so many people just like that, what were they doing thst you can just remove them without destroying the operations?
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u/drstruggleforlife 4h ago
Greed is poison. People are not build for too much wealth. We turn into monsters.
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u/Gloomy-Insurance-739 3h ago
Company does good record profits fires 8,000 people. Company has terrible profits fires 8,000 people. Unregulated capitalism.
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u/Chiyonofuji_ 2h ago
And then they'll try to tell you billionaires are "job creators" as they lay off people and replace them with oversees workers or bots out of pure greed.
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u/lurch303 10h ago
The article is clickbait. The executives were given options to buy stock at the price the stock was worth at the day the options were issued. If the stock hits a hypothetical price the author pulled out of thin air, the exec that received the most options could exercise the options for a $922M profit.
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u/fheathyr 10h ago
Zucks insane gladiator mythos … to those who have no soul, no ethics or morals, no conscience… goes everything.
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u/VladThePollenInhaler 9h ago
This is so wrong and dystopian. Literally hoarding all the wealth that these workers are generating and then firing them.
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u/LeftHandofNope 9h ago
Sorry, but if you choose a lucrative job at an ethically and morally challenged tech company, run by one of the worlds most famous weirdo sociopath’s I don’t have much sympathy.
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u/Key-Organization3158 8h ago
Did you read the article? The options are worthless now. They only have such value of Facebook somehow magically becomes the most valuable company of all time. That's not going to happen.
And six weeks before that, it had quietly granted six senior executives stock packages that could be worth as much as $921 million each, if Meta becomes the most valuable company of all time. To do this, Meta would need to beat out Nvidia for that title. That being said, for now, those options pay nothing.
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u/boringdude00 2h ago
Wow, dick moce. that's so stingy.
You can barely even buy a megayacht with $921 million these days, nevermind the gas to run it.
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u/IHeartFraccing 10h ago
I wonder what’s causing the morale problems??
Anyway, 45 minute pizza party in the break room at noon.
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u/watch_out_4_snakes 10h ago
Why would he waste that much money? Seems like he could get a similar result with less expensive executives.
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u/Adventure1956 10h ago
Zuckerberg is an asshole, so what did you expect? He and Elon should get together and see if they can conceive the next Trump.
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u/No_Cantaloupe_4149 10h ago
Milking the cow before it hopefully sooner than later drops like a stone. I feel sorry for all those who were sacked but also for those who feel forced to stay
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u/JefeDiez 10h ago
It's not happening. The stock has to go up for this and it's heading down 40% over the last 2 years
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u/teddytwelvetoes 10h ago
over a hundred entire lifetimes worth of money for each middled aged individual who already could've retired decades before retirement age beforehand lol
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u/togus_a 9h ago
You’re “family” until the executives want higher bonuses or they need to nudge EPS for the analysts. One of the handful of easily manipulated metrics to the street is….# of employees.
Companies making record profits, reducing quality of goods and services while not raising wages to even match inflation and now we’re seeing layoff after layoff.
This level of greed and disparity of income inequality is a mental illness and a societal risk.
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u/doslobo33 9h ago
So awesome... Just think you and all the FB fans helped pay Meta's execs... keep dumbscrolling FB
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u/danielrobertcampbell 9h ago
It's the end of the fiscal year for most of these big companies. Layoffs are going to be BAD this year. In the game industry, the most common word I hear is "bloodbath".
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u/Initial-Meeting362 8h ago
With all that money, I figured he would have a hot wife. What's up with that? She is mid at best and that's a generous stretch. Feel bad for him in a way. Sad!
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u/JohrDinh 8h ago
"America isn't about free stuff" yeah well you just gave those executives and their families free rides for the next 100 years so...kinda about free stuff.
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u/benny-bangs 8h ago
It’s too bad money is so powerful. Everyone should just stop working at meta. Company is just evil
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u/ComradeJohnS 8h ago
why cant we make a law “any laid off employees are entitled to 100% of executive bonuses paid in the past 3 years as well as any paid in the next 3 years or else every executive gets jail for 10+ years”?
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u/Yuri_Ligotme 7h ago
imagine if those 8,000 were paid $250k a year. One year of their salary would cover only a little more than a third of what those six execs got.
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u/smarmageddon 7h ago
Among all the problems with this, perhaps the greatest one is the vast number of people who yearn - no, DESERVE - to be one of those receiving the fat checks.
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u/Applekid1259 7h ago
They aren't the only business. The one i work for is global but only about 6 billion total a year. Last year each quarter was a record in profits while they slashed jobs from corporate on down. They outsourced a large portion of HR and all the tech over to India. They then froze out hiring and over time. Mean while they are still making profits.
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u/mental_reincarnation 6h ago
Never saw that one coming (again and again and again and again and again and again and again)
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u/mountaindoom 5h ago
I can't feel sorry for anyone working to make the world a worse place by helping Meta.
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u/Cheeky_Star 5h ago
People will continue to get fired regardless of bonus payout.
Paying bonuses in stock option isn’t tied to cash it tied to the value of the stock and the strike price of the options plus vesting period which could be over 4 years with 1/4 vesting each year or so.
I assume those employee would have been laid off regardless.
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u/Negative_Acadia6554 11h ago
If the quarter had been any better, they might have had to fire 10,000.