Meta Lays Off 700 Employees While Preparing Rp15 Trillion Bonus for Executives

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, is once again cutting around 700 jobs amid the company’s major focus on artificial intelligence technology. The layoffs, announced on Wednesday (25/3/2026), form the latest part of the wave of workforce reductions in the technology industry. The cuts affecting hundreds of Meta employees impact various teams, from Reality Labs and Facebook to global operations, recruitment, and sales. “Teams across Meta routinely carry out restructurings or changes to ensure they are in the best position to achieve goals,” stated a Meta spokesperson. “Where possible, we also seek other opportunities for affected employees,” they added. Of the total 700 Meta employees laid off, it is not yet known precisely how many affected workers are from the Bay Area region. However, the company has previously submitted documents indicating that the layoffs occurred at several office locations in California, including Menlo Park, Sunnyvale, and Burlingame. Amid this decision to reduce hundreds of jobs, Meta is instead preparing a large-scale stock incentive programme for its executives. Less than 24 hours before the layoffs were announced, the company introduced a new scheme allowing Meta’s bosses to obtain additional stock options worth up to $921 million (approximately Rp15 trillion). These incentives will be granted if Meta successfully meets certain growth targets, including the ambition to become a company valued at up to $9 trillion (approximately Rp15.37 quadrillion) by 2031. Mark Zuckerberg himself, serving as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), is reported not to receive new stock options under this programme. These additional stock options represent the first time Meta has provided incentives to its executives since the company went public in 2012. At that time, the California, US-based company was still named Facebook.