Meta grants senior executives stock options tied to a 6x valuation increase to retain talent in AI race

Meta issued stock options to six senior executives that require the company's share price to rise as much as 88% to over $1,100 to unlock the lowest tranche, and as high as $3,727 for the most aggressive tranche, which would push Meta's market cap above $9 trillion. The options, Meta's first for top brass, cover CFO Susan Li, technology head Andrew Bosworth, product chief Chris Cox, operations boss Javier Olivan, President Dina Powell McCormick, and Chief Legal Officer Curtis Mahoney, and must hit their price targets by February 14, 2028 to vest. The plan does not include CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and comes as Big Tech broadly rethinks executive compensation structures while pouring hundreds of billions into AI infrastructure.