It is if Facebook can issue debt to stretch the fine payment into several years or longer. If you make $50k a year, get a $25k fine, and stretch it out into 50

It is if Facebook can issue debt to stretch the fine payment into several years or longer. If you make $50k a year, get a $25k fine, and stretch it out into 50 $500 payments, then it's about fifty parking tickets. Which is hard, but doable. And when you're a PM, or somewhere else nice and well far removed from the corporate bank accounts which are paying the fine, then you don't even notice. Actually, you notice something positive since your compensation took a nice bump when your stock options became worth more as a result of investors responding positively to the news. The amount of money needs to be commensurate with a level at which shareholders feel like they're taking a hit. It's not about the size of the fine, it's about how the fine makes investors feel.