📢 Meta disclosed a stock incentive under which Mark Zuckerberg committed to living in California for eight years. The filing includes an exception if circumstances make living elsewhere reasonable. The plan came with Meta’s third-quarter results, less than two weeks before the November 3 election, and looks like a response to Proposition 40 — a proposed 5% tax on California residents with wealth above $1 billion. Zuckerberg’s net worth is about $225 billion, making him the world’s sixth-richest person. With his $1 annual salary, such a tax would effectively mean he pays for the right to run Meta while staying in California.
The company will issue non-voting Class C common shares effective in January. Zuckerberg will receive part of them as a dividend. He can immediately sell or transfer up to 20% of the award, including to cover Proposition 40 taxes if the measure passes, without losing his voting control. Meta stresses that Zuckerberg is critical to its AI ambitions and to working with Superintelligence Labs under Alexander Wang. A special committee tied Meta’s growth, strategy, and stability to his leadership and wanted that contribution to continue.
Zuckerberg and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang are the only tech CEOs worth $100 billion or more who still live in California. Musk and Dell are in Texas, Bezos never made the state his primary residence, and Page, Brin, and Ellison moved to Florida. Much of the industry opposes the tax: those linked to the resistance effort include Page, Brin, Eric Schmidt, Patrick Collison, Peter Thiel, and Tony Xu. Collison and Xu sit on Meta’s board; Thiel was there until 2022. Brin has said his family fled the Soviet Union and he does not want California to end up “in the same position.” Huang, by contrast, called paying such a tax “a privilege.” Supporters of Proposition 40, including Bernie Sanders, urge a yes vote, but a recent Citrin-Politico poll shows 46% support versus 43% opposition — and the measure may fall short of the majority needed to pass#META $META $METAB
The company will issue non-voting Class C common shares effective in January. Zuckerberg will receive part of them as a dividend. He can immediately sell or transfer up to 20% of the award, including to cover Proposition 40 taxes if the measure passes, without losing his voting control. Meta stresses that Zuckerberg is critical to its AI ambitions and to working with Superintelligence Labs under Alexander Wang. A special committee tied Meta’s growth, strategy, and stability to his leadership and wanted that contribution to continue.
Zuckerberg and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang are the only tech CEOs worth $100 billion or more who still live in California. Musk and Dell are in Texas, Bezos never made the state his primary residence, and Page, Brin, and Ellison moved to Florida. Much of the industry opposes the tax: those linked to the resistance effort include Page, Brin, Eric Schmidt, Patrick Collison, Peter Thiel, and Tony Xu. Collison and Xu sit on Meta’s board; Thiel was there until 2022. Brin has said his family fled the Soviet Union and he does not want California to end up “in the same position.” Huang, by contrast, called paying such a tax “a privilege.” Supporters of Proposition 40, including Bernie Sanders, urge a yes vote, but a recent Citrin-Politico poll shows 46% support versus 43% opposition — and the measure may fall short of the majority needed to pass#META $META $METAB