Meta's 4+N/2 Severance: With a Green Card It's Happiness, Without One It's a Countdown
In the same Meta layoff, people with green cards take their six-figure severance to a new job, while those without one have four months — right through the holiday window — to find their next job or leave the United States.
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The severance formula is 4+N/2, not 4+4
What laid-off people got was ‘4 plus 4 plus N divided by 2’: two months of salary plus two months of severance, four months of exit pay in total; then an extra N/2 based on tenure — two-plus years gets one more month, one year gets half a month. On top of that, six months of Cobra health insurance, and shares that were due to vest on November 15 were still granted. The guest says this money is actually easy to calculate, because US salaries are basically transparent — base salary and bonus can be looked up, only the stock portion varies by person. Using the Level.FYI median, he estimates an E5 gets around $150,000, an E6 under $200,000, and after California's 30-40% tax, around $120,000 is left.
— Ni YouzhangIf a product manager gets laid off, you weren't watching your own business
The guest says he was cold-blooded when talking with friends: as a product manager or data scientist, getting laid off at a company like Meta or Google shouldn't happen, because you have first-hand information and should be able to judge whether your business is a company priority. He feels it's a shame when engineers get laid off, because engineers often focus only on the task at hand and lack a broad judgment about the business. When he joined Meta, he deliberately chose recommendation systems and short video, reasoning that these four products — Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger — plus Reality Lab are ones the company will definitely not give up; what can be given up is peripheral business.
— Ni YouzhangWithout a green card, it's a four-month countdown
Laid-off people will stay on payroll until January 15 next year, meaning they can tell immigration they were laid off on January 15, after which they have 60 days to find a job, with a deadline of March 15. The guest says the difficulty is that the market is cold and it happens to hit the holidays, and next year's hiring won't open up until late January or February. Conversely, for people with green cards, being laid off is a kind of happiness for many, especially capable people — he knows two people laid off this week who started work the following Monday, essentially getting a windfall.
— Ni YouzhangSilicon Valley has no 35-year line, because it lacks people
The guest says he ultimately plans to return to China, for family reasons: he is an only child, his parents are in China, and he doesn't want to spend his sixties and seventies alone in a small apartment in a foreign country. But he also admits China has a 35-year age line, while Silicon Valley generally doesn't, for two reasons: a shortage of tech talent, and age discrimination not being allowed in workplace culture — not marrying at 30, buying a house after 40, all normal. Last year he interviewed at Tencent and ByteDance, got offers but chose not to go. He positions himself as a ‘professional wage earner’, not the risk-taking entrepreneurial type.
— Ni YouzhangAt the same level, US pay is about double China's
He aligns by level: Tencent P12, ByteDance 3.2 to 4.1, Meta is 6, Google is 6 to 7. The US line pays roughly $550,000 to $650,000 a year, or about 4.2 million RMB at $600,000; the same level in China is 2.4 to 2.5 million RMB. But the cost of living works in reverse: a meal in China is 300-400 RMB, $40 a day, $1,200 a month; in the US a meal is $60 to $150, and you first pay 40% tax, then 10% sales tax, then a 15% tip, meaning only 35% of the money actually goes to the food. He also says basic healthcare is faster in China; in the US seeing a doctor for a stomach ulcer takes three months.
— Ni YouzhangThe root cause of the layoffs is the end of the mobile internet dividend
The guest relays three outside judgments: Zuckerberg will keep increasing metaverse investment next year, costs won't come down and revenue won't grow; Zuckerberg holds company control, so investors have no way to change his behavior; the company made wrong estimates of its own P&L and balance sheet and over-hired. But he pushes the root cause one step further back: thank Steve Jobs — today it's because the phone dividend has run out, mobile internet growth is over, and every company valued on growth has hit a bottleneck. He says this dividend began with the iPhone and 3G, 4G, 5G, lasted about 12 to 14 years, and officially ended in 2021.
— Ni YouzhangThis is far less brutal than 2008
The guest went to the US in 2006 and lived through the 2008 financial crisis. He says compared with that, this is ‘no contest’ — 2008 was worse: he was in school then, and one reason he delayed graduation by several years was that there were no jobs; when he graduated in 2010, the 65,000 H1B quota wasn't even filled. Now, H1B in April next year will certainly still be snapped up in one draw, which shows the economic crisis is far from here, and right now it's only big companies laying off. He also mentions that an extra buffer for Chinese companies is going overseas, but apart from gaming, most Chinese companies have not done overseas expansion well.
— Ni YouzhangHe interviewed for fewer than a hundred rounds
The guest shares the intensity of his interview preparation while not knowing whether he'd be laid off: he found a dozen headhunters, applied to thirty or forty companies himself, practiced interviews with others for at least 60 hours, and actually went to roughly fewer than 100 interviews. Among them, he interviewed with Microsoft 11 or 12 times, with different departments at least seven or eight times, with Google 7 times, and with Meta at least 6 times. He says it adds up to just under 100 hours.
— Ni YouzhangIn their own words · checked verbatim
I think as long as the severance is adequate, none of this matters, because capable people should easily find their next job.
我认为只要补偿给到位了 这些都无所谓 因为能力强的人应该很容易就找到下一份工作
Ni Youzhang7:11
As a product manager and data scientist — that is, data analyst, data scientist — if you get laid off, at a company like Meta or Google, that actually shouldn't happen, because you should have a judgment about your own business: is it a company priority?
作为产品经理和data scientist 就是数据分析师 数据科学家 如果被裁了 在Meta和Google这种公司 实际上是不应该的 因为你应该对自己的业务有个判断 它是不是公司的重点项目
Ni Youzhang10:13
be optimistic and be happy be healthy and be strong and stay with family
be optimistic and be happy be healthy and be strong and stay with family
Ni Youzhang14:17
For classmates with green cards, actually getting laid off — for some people, for many people, it's a kind of happiness, especially for capable people, even more so.
对有绿卡的同学 其实被裁掉了 有的人 对很多人来说都是一种幸福 尤其是能力强的人 更是一种幸福
Ni Youzhang17:18
Today it's because the phone dividend has run out, mobile internet growth is over, and every company valued on growth has hit a bottleneck — this entire era's dividend is over.
今天就是因为手机的红利到头了 移动互联网的增长结束了 所有靠增长做估值的公司都遇到了瓶颈 就是整个这一个时代红利结束了
Ni Youzhang30:23
Now look at H1B next April — it will certainly still be snapped up in one draw, which shows the economic crisis is far from here, and right now it's only big companies.
现在H1B你看明年4月份 肯定还是一抽而空 那就说明经济危机还远远没有来到 现在只是大的企业
Ni Youzhang30:23
Figures
| Meta layoff ratio and headcount this round | 13%, about 11,000 people | 3:08 |
| Meta layoff severance package | 4 months exit pay + N/2 + 6 months Cobra health insurance | 7:11 |
| Payroll retention deadline for laid-off employees | January 15 next year | 16:57 |
| Job search window after layoff | 60 days, deadline March 15 | 17:18 |
| Estimated E5 severance (median) | About $150,000 | 18:18 |
| Estimated E6 severance | Under $200,000 | 19:18 |
| US annual pay at same level (Meta 6 / Google 6-7) | $550,000 to $650,000, about 4.2 million RMB | 24:46 |
| China annual pay at same level (Tencent P12 / ByteDance 3.2-4.1) | 2.4 to 2.5 million RMB | 24:46 |
| Irvine home price (bought 6 years ago, 2,500+ sq ft) | About $1 million, about 6 million RMB | 27:22 |
| Home price decline around Silicon Valley | 10% to 15% | 27:22 |
Glossary
- Level.FYI
- A US tech company pay and level comparison site where employees anonymously upload salary data.
- Cobra
- The legal arrangement in the US to continue company health insurance at your own expense after leaving a job.
- H1B
- A US work visa for foreign professional employees; after losing a job, a new employer must be found within a deadline.
- P&L
- Profit and Loss, a financial statement reflecting a company's revenue and cost structure.
- IC
- Individual Contributor, a career track that does not go into management and focuses only on professional work.
How to listen
Tech workers watching Silicon Valley layoffs, comparing US and China pay, and weighing whether to return to China — especially anyone assessing visa risk and severance.
The opening self-introduction and the week of rumors before the layoff can be fast-forwarded; start at 6:48 for the severance and level comparisons.