After laying off thousands, Meta rewards executives with 200% bonuses
Just a week after laying off 3,600 employees, Meta has come under scrutiny for awarding its top executives substantial pay raises. According to a corporate filing, the social media giant has increased executive bonuses to 200% of their base salaries—more than double the previous rate of 75%.
The decision, approved on February 13, 2025, by Meta’s Compensation, Nominating, and Governance Committee (CNGC), does not apply to CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The company justified the increase by citing concerns that its executive pay had fallen behind industry benchmarks, as reported by Moneycontrol.
Meta’s board argued that before the adjustment, the "target total cash compensation" for its executives was "at or below the 15th percentile" compared to their peers at other major tech firms. With the new structure, the company claims compensation now aligns with "approximately the 50th percentile of the Peer Group Target Cash Compensation."
The tech giant defended the move, stating it was necessary to retain top talent and ensure competitive compensation. However, the timing of the announcement has sparked backlash, as it comes in the wake of mass layoffs affecting roughly 5% of Meta’s global workforce. The company had cited "low performance" as the reason for the job cuts, but critics argue that such a large-scale workforce reduction, followed by hefty executive bonuses, sends a contradictory message.
Despite these layoffs, Meta is simultaneously expanding its operations in India, particularly in Bengaluru. The company is actively hiring for 41 engineering positions in the city, focusing on software development, machine learning, and chip design for its data centers.
Over the past month, Meta has posted multiple job listings on LinkedIn, reflecting its commitment to building a strong engineering hub in India. Among the available roles, the company is looking for an "experienced Engineering Director" to lead its India-based team—a position Meta describes as key to shaping its long-term technical vision in the country.
Unlike its existing offices in Hyderabad, Gurgaon, New Delhi, and Mumbai, which mainly handle non-engineering roles, the Bengaluru office is set to become a major technology center. It will support Meta’s Enterprise Engineering team, which focuses on internal tools rather than consumer-facing products like Facebook and Instagram.
The contrast between Meta’s large-scale layoffs and its executive pay raises has drawn criticism from employees and industry watchers alike. Many argue that rewarding top executives while simultaneously cutting jobs raises ethical concerns about corporate decision-making and workforce priorities. While Meta maintains that the changes were necessary for retaining leadership talent, the optics of such a move during a period of job insecurity have fueled debate about corporate responsibility in the tech sector.
As Meta continues to expand in India, it remains to be seen how the company will balance its financial strategies with employee morale. For now, the company faces mounting questions about its leadership’s priorities and the broader implications of its compensation policies.