Mark Zuckerberg is set to gain $700 million from dividends issued by Meta.

February 2, 2024

Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, is expected to receive $700 million (£549 million) a year in dividends.

On Thursday, Meta announced it would pay its first-ever quarterly dividend to investors since Facebook floated on the stock market in 2012, after beating Wall Street expectations with $40 billion in revenues for the final quarter last year.

The company reported a tripling of quarterly profits to $14 billion as advertising sales rebounded, despite Meta cutting 22% of staff by reducing the total headcount to about 19,000, and it launched a $50 billion share buyback.

Zuckerberg also announced that the business, which turns 20 this month, would pay its first dividend as a public company of 50 cents a share. Meta said the $1.25bn to investors would be the first of regular payouts.

Zuckerberg holds about 350m shares, meaning that if Meta makes roughly the same level of dividend payouts each quarter, he stands to take home about $700m over the course of the first year of the policy.

The 39-year-old took home $27m in total compensation in 2022, the most recent year full remuneration figures were available.

Meta came in for criticism at a US Senate judiciary committee hearing on Wednesday, which was convened to interrogate Zuckerberg and other tech executives over their platforms’ impact on young users. The chief executive offered condolences to parents whose children had died after online exploitation.

Throughout the hearing, Congress members touted legislation that could strip Meta and other platforms of legal immunity for content posted on its platforms. This comes months after Meta was hit with a massive lawsuit by the attorneys general of 41 states over its impact on young users.

New Mexico’s attorney general has also sued the company for allegedly failing to prevent child sexual exploitation and trafficking.

Meta has been contacted for comment.

Source: The Guardian
Image: Good Returns, Bloom Berg