Facebook's Zuckerberg, Sandberg Get Big Payouts

Datamation content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.

A new SEC filing has revealed some of the details about compensation for Facebook executives. In 2012, CEO Mark Zuckerberg exercised $2.3 billion worth of stock options, and COO Sheryl Sandberg made $25.6 million.

Somini Sengupta with The New York Times reported, “Facebook shares may have been on a roller coaster ride in the year since they made their debut on Wall Street, but they haven’t been too shabby for its top executives. Mark Zuckerberg exercised stock options worth $2.3 billion, according to a proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Friday — and sold about half, to cover his tax bill.”

The Telegraph’s Jacqui Goddard noted, “With the share price still languishing, Zuckerberg’s holdings in Facebook mean he is now sitting on a paper loss of about $7 billion in the company he founded as a student of computer science at Harvard University in 2004. The 28-year-old chairman and chief executive officer held 609.5 million Facebook shares on March 31, more than 83 per cent of the company, with a current net worth of more than $16 billion.”

The Silicon Valley Business Journal’s Luke Stangel wrote, “In an SEC filing Friday, Facebook reported that Zuckerberg earned a $503,205 annual salary and a $266,101 bonus in 2012. He also spent $1.2 million worth of perks, mostly related to personal security and private jet travel. Starting Jan. 1, 2013, he voluntarily cut his salary to $1 per year, and agreed not to take an annual performance bonus. He also added no new stock options because, the filing notes, ‘our compensation committee believed that his existing equity ownership position sufficiently aligns his interests with those of our stockholders.'”

Jessica Guynn with the Los Angeles Times added, “Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg received $26.2 million in compensation, making her the highest-paid executive at the giant social network for the second straight year. Sandberg earned $25.6 million in stock awards, a salary of $321,128 and a $276,730 bonus, according to a proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Friday. That was a slight decline from nearly $31 million the year before.”