Meta executives could make billions under a blockbuster Elon-style pay package

• Six top Meta execs are set to receive huge pay increases — excluding CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
• But that hinges on Meta meeting "exceedingly aggressive" stock prices over five years, Meta said.
• It's getting expensive to retain top leaders as AI makes tech more competitive than ever.

Meta's C-suite is set to score a big increase in their compensation — if the $1.5 trillion tech company can massively boost its stock price, according to forms Meta just filed with the SEC.

The forms detail a two-part incentive system for six executives, including CTO Andrew Bosworth, CFO Susan Li, chief operating officer Javier Olivan, and chief product officer Chris Cox. The execs are set to receive an increased number of restricted stock units that vest over time, and tens of thousands of stock options that give them the right to purchase shares at lofty future targets, with a deadline of March 2031.

The conversion price in the packages starts at $1,116.08 and goes up to $3,727.12. The high end of the package would put Meta's market cap at more than $8 trillion, based on today's shares outstanding.

Meta's stock — trading at about $600 — is down nearly 3% in the last year.

Bosworth, Cox, Li, and Olivan would receive the most options, which would set them up for paydays of up to $2.7 billion, depending on how Meta's stock rises and how much they choose to exercise.

The compensation package is a sign that the AI talent wars — which are hotter than ever — could be spreading to the C-suite as tech companies battle for AI supremacy. The news also comes as Meta weighs major layoffs as it pours billions into AI.

"This is a big bet. These pay packages will not be realized unless Meta achieves massive future success, benefiting all of our shareholders. As with all stock options, there is only value if the share price meaningfully exceeds the exercise price, and in this case, it must be on an exceedingly aggressive 5-year timeline," a Meta spokesperson told Business Insider.

The deal is structured in a similar way to Elon Musk's $1 trillion pay package, which gave the Tesla CEO that amount in stock over a 10-year period if he sextupled the carmaker's market capitalization. Unlike that deal, however, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is not included.

The other Meta executives part of the proposed increase are chief legal officer C.J. Mahoney and president Dina Powell McCormick. Chief accounting officer Aaron Anderson would receive about $3 million in RSUs and no stock options.

While the executives affected aren't all tech-focused, the increase still reflects Meta's commitment to leading the AI world, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Meta has notched notable wins in the AI talent wars, recently hiring three researchers from high-profile startup Thinking Machines Labs, Business Insider previously reported, and even poaching its CTO the year before.

The company has been on an aggressive campaign to increase its AI talent since last summer, when it announced a 'superintelligence' team led by the former CEO of Scale AI, Alexandr Wang, who joined after Meta bought a 50% stake in the startup for $14 billion.

The tech giant has also bought several AI startups, including AI agent startup Manus and the viral social network Moltbook.