A reduction in net worth (i.e. stock price dropping) is a pretty terrible penalty, because a) it doesn't actually reflect upon the CEO's successes or failures, and b) because any bump in Meta's stock price will bring that net worth right back. And, usually, doing a mass layoff will do exactly that.

EDIT: Sure enough, Meta's stock is up ~17% since a week ago.

> And, usually, doing a mass layoff will do exactly that.

That tells you that companies have far too few mass layoffs.

Only if your goal is short-term profits, and not long term sustainability.

Stock prices are the market's estimate of the company's long running prospects.

Management has a fiduciary duty to shareholders. Stock price isn't everything, but it's still prima facie evidence of what shareholders want.