Directors of Meta, the company founded and led by Mark Zuckerberg, will receive significantly higher bonuses this year, CNBC reports.
According to a financial report filed by the company with US regulators on Thursday, an “increase in the target bonus percentage” in the annual bonus plan for directors was approved. From now on, Meta’s executives can receive a bonus of 200% of their base salary instead of 75%, as it was previously. However, the updated bonus plan does not apply to the CEO position held by Mark Zuckerberg.
A committee of Meta’s Board of Directors approved the change on 13 February, noting that the “target cash compensation” for the company’s executives “was at or below the 15th percentile of similar positions at comparable companies.”
The announcement of the bonus hike comes a week after Meta began laying off 5% of its total workforce. Earlier, the company said that this measure would apply to employees with “poor performance”. In addition, Meta has also reduced the allocation of annual stock options by about 10% for thousands of employees, as reported by the Financial Times on Thursday. According to the newspaper, the reduction in stock options may vary depending on where employees live and their position in the company.
As of the end of last year, Meta employed around 74,000 people, although the company has carried out several large-scale layoffs since the COVID-19 quarantine restrictions were lifted. For example, in November 2022, Meta laid off 11,000 employees, which was 13% of its total workforce at the time.
Both Meta and other tech giants, including Amazon, have been actively hiring new employees during the pandemic, when demand for digital services has skyrocketed due to the need to comply with quarantine measures.
