March 24 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms ( META ) is

increasing compensation for top executives, including its

first-ever offer of stock options, as it tries to fend off

competition in the artificial intelligence race and incentivize

leaders to stay with the company for several years.

The pay boost comes as Meta, like other major tech firms,

races to gain an edge in AI, intensifying a battle for senior

talent. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been pushing the company to

compete more forcefully in generative AI.

Chief Financial Officer Susan Li, Chief Technology Officer

Andrew Bosworth, Chief Product Officer Chris Cox, Chief

Operating Officer Javier Olivan, President Dina Powell McCormick

and Chief Legal Officer Curtis Mahoney are eligible for the

stock options, regulatory filings late on Tuesday showed.

All executives except McCormick and Mahoney, who joined Meta

in January, will also receive an increase in restricted stock

awards, worth a total $170 million at last close, which vest

quarterly. Chief Accounting Officer Aaron Anderson will only

receive restricted stock.

The company has offered huge pay packages, some worth

hundreds of millions of dollars over the years, to court top AI

researchers to a new superintelligence team.

Stock awards are typically issued to reward employees,

retain top talent and align their interests with the company's

long-term success.

Meta executives would need the company's stock to rise at

least 88.2% to $1,116.08 to unlock the lowest-priced tranche of

stock options. On Tuesday, Meta shares closed at $592.92.

A more than six-fold jump would be needed to unlock the most

aggressive tranche, requiring the company's stock price to rise

as high as $3,727.12, according to the filings.

Meta must meet the price targets by February 14, 2028, for

the options to vest. If unsuccessful, Meta executives' unvested

options would become available to them in instalments through

August 15, 2030. The options will expire in March 2031 if they

are unexercised.

A Meta spokesperson said the pay packages represent a "big

bet" and that they "will not be realized unless Meta achieves

massive future success, benefiting all of our shareholders."