Meta slashes employee stock awards by 5% as Zuckerberg channels billions into AI infrastructure

Meta Reduces Stock Awards to Fund Massive AI Investment

Meta has reduced annual employee stock awards by approximately 5% for most of its workforce, marking the second consecutive year of equity cuts as CEO Mark Zuckerberg redirects billions toward artificial intelligence goals 1

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. This follows a more substantial 10% cut to stock grants last year, which reportedly shocked some staff at the time 2

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. The company calls these stock option awards "equity refreshers," and they're distributed to most employees on top of base salaries and annual cash bonuses 1

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. Despite the reduction in Meta employee bonuses, the company has revamped its performance review system, with the highest achievers reportedly receiving larger rewards, meaning overall remuneration is actually expected to increase .

Record Capital Expenditure Drives AI Race Strategy

The social media company expects capital expenditure for 2026 to reach a record-high range of $115 billion to $135 billion, a figure that rivals the entire annual budget of New York State 2

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. Meta and other Big Tech companies are competing to outbuild each other with massive data centers to get ahead in Silicon Valley's heated AI race 2

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. The savings from cuts stock awards are being funneled directly into "Meta Superintelligence Labs," a core initiative aimed at developing AI that can outperform human capabilities 3

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. Mark Zuckerberg told investors during the fourth-quarter earnings call that "this is going to be a big year for delivering personal superintelligence," emphasizing that Meta would "continue to invest very significantly in infrastructure to train leading models" 3

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Superintelligence Infrastructure and Talent Acquisition

Meta is pushing to outcompete OpenAI, Google, and xAI to develop the most advanced LLMs and eventually build its own AGI 1

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. While funding AI initiatives through employee stock award reductions, the company is simultaneously offering salaries of up to $2 million, $100 million bonuses, and even a reported $1.25 billion offer to a particular individual to shore up its AI talent 1

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. In 2025, Meta announced plans to spend at least $65 billion on data centers, including a 2GW site with over 1.3 million Nvidia AI GPUs 1

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. The company also started deploying these AI GPUs in tents for faster deployment, with Zuckerberg announcing a data center site that's as big as Manhattan 1

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. To power all these projects, Meta inked a deal for 6 gigawatts of nuclear power earlier this year, enough to deliver the electricity needs of 5 million homes 1

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Restructuring and Employee Response

Even as the company pursues its artificial intelligence goals, it's trimming less performant units to maintain efficiency. In January 2026, its metaverse division slashed 1,500 jobs, while it also let go of about 8,000 workers last year, part of the 100,000 tech industry positions caught in layoffs as of mid-2025 1

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. The pivot to AI has also led Meta to shift resources away from Reality Labs, which has incurred over $70 billion in losses since 2021, toward AI-powered wearables and personal superintelligence products 3

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. There were complaints on Meta's anonymous employee messaging board about the bonus cuts. "Another reduction. I guess that's what I get for trying! Bye Meta!" one comment said, while another wrote, "Cutting my work hours 5%" 1

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. Nevertheless, the company still maintains one of the best pay packages in the industry, making a mass exodus of workers unlikely despite the uncertainty facing white-collar jobs from AI 1

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. Investors are growing jittery about the amount of money being spent on the technology, even as Meta shares have declined by 0.87% year-to-date and 14.20% over the last six months 3

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