Meta Set a $9 Trillion Target. Then Came a Wave of Bad News
This past week, Meta Platforms filed paperwork outlining incentive plans for senior executives not named Mark Zuckerberg. This wouldn't be news except for the fact that the strike prices for the included stock options range from $1,116 a share to $3,727. Ultimately, for the options to all be in the money, Meta would need a market value of at least $9.6 trillion.Put another way: Meta shares would have to rise 580%, or an annualized 47%, over the five-year terms of the options.And it is "exceedingly aggressive." Meta, one of the largest companies in the world, would have to return to the earnings growth rates it last saw in the 2010s as a relatively young company in the emerging digital ad space.Meta wouldn't get specific when I asked how a $3,700 share price within five years might be possible. But, likely, the dream is that Meta leverages its 3.6 billion users worldwide and becomes the leading provider of consumer artificial-intelligence services, maybe through its AI smart glasses.Met