Meta Platforms (META) Stock Gets First-Ever Executive Stock Options Since 2012 IPO

TLDR

• Meta is offering stock options to top executives for the first time since its 2012 IPO, targeting key talent retention.
• Eligible leaders include CFO Susan Li, CTO Andrew Bosworth, CPO Chris Cox, COO Javier Olivan, and others — but not CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
• The first payout tranche requires META stock to hit $1,116.08, an 88% jump from Tuesday’s close of $592.92.
• The highest tranche targets $3,727.12 per share, implying a market cap above $9 trillion.
• META stock is down roughly 4% over the past year, trailing most of its megacap peers.

Meta Platforms (META) stock was trading up 1.1% in Wednesday pre-market after the company disclosed the stock option plan in SEC filings.

Meta Platforms, Inc., META

Meta is giving stock options to a group of top executives for the first time since its 2012 IPO. The move is designed to keep key talent in place as the company pushes deeper into artificial intelligence.

The executives named in the plan are CFO Susan Li, CTO Andrew Bosworth, CPO Chris Cox, COO Javier Olivan, President Dina Powell McCormick, and Chief Legal Officer Curtis Mahoney. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, whose net worth sits above $200 billion, is not included.

The first tranche of options pays out only if META stock reaches $1,116.08. That’s an 88% rise from Tuesday’s closing price of $592.92 and would put Meta’s market cap at roughly $2.82 trillion.

The next tranche kicks in at $1,393.87. It keeps climbing from there, with the highest target set at $3,727.12 per share. At that level, Meta would be worth over $9 trillion — more than double Nvidia’s current valuation of around $4.3 trillion, the most valuable company in the world today.

These are high bars. The short five-year timeline to hit them makes that even clearer.

META stock is down about 4% over the past year. That puts it near the bottom of its megacap peer group, only ahead of Microsoft, which is off 5%. Alphabet, by contrast, is up 73% over the same period, driven by strong performance from its Gemini AI lineup.

Why Meta Is Feeling the Pressure

OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google have all been rolling out AI models and tools at pace. Meta has struggled to match that momentum. Its Llama 4 family of models failed to generate much traction with third-party developers when it launched.

In response, Meta overhauled its AI unit in 2025. In June of that year, it invested $14.3 billion into Scale AI and brought on the startup’s CEO, Alexandr Wang, to run what is now called Meta Superintelligence Labs.

Meta has also committed to spending between $115 billion and $135 billion in capital expenditures in 2026. That’s up from $72.2 billion in 2025 — a substantial increase as the company tries to close the gap with rivals.

What Wall Street Thinks

Despite the stock’s recent underperformance, analysts remain constructive on META. Wall Street’s consensus is a Strong Buy, based on 40 Buy ratings and five Holds.

The average price target is $865.58, which implies roughly 46% upside from current levels.

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