Mark Zuckerberg’s AI ambitions back in the spotlight as Meta execs begin ‘moonshot’ mission for $9.5 trillion valuation and massive payouts

Meta Platforms is set to report first quarter of 2026 earnings on Wednesday, and investors will have a gimlet eye on capital expenditures. Capex is expected to rise to between $115 billion and $135 billion this year as Meta focuses on its Superintelligence Labs. However, a batch of SEC filings also indicate Meta is betting on moonshot growth for a cohort of executives—and none of them are named Mark Zuckerberg. 

The $1.7 trillion social media giant disclosed a sweeping round of executive compensation awards to five of Meta’s most-senior executives last month. Each exec got seven tranches of stock options with exercise prices ranging from $1,116 to $3,727 per share. With Meta’s stock currently trading at $671.34, the stock price would have to climb 66% to hit even the lowest level. To get to the highest rung, at which the final tranche of options would become profitable, Meta would need to reach a market capitalization of $9.46 trillion. No company in history has ever hit that market cap, which is nearly twice the size of $5.3 trillion Nvidia, currently the world’s most valuable company. 

The Meta board, chaired by CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg, granted the options to a select group including chief technology officer A...