Meta has agreed to a new deal with chief executive Mark Zuckerberg to prevent him from leaving California over a proposed state tax on billionaires.

The agreement gives Zuckerberg, whose wealth is estimated to exceed $200bn (£149bn), even more shares in Meta to make up for the fraction of his fortune he may lose if the tax wins voter approval in November.

The measure would impose a one-time 5% tax on residents with a net worth of more than $1bn. It would likely see the Facebook co-founder pay around $10bn in additional state taxes.

He secured the deal with a special committee of Meta after "robust" and "at several points, contentious" negotiations, according to a Wednesday financial disclosure.

California is home to most of the US's technology giants and there are around 225 billionaires who reside in the state, according to the Americans for Tax Fairness campaign group.

The wealth of such people, including Zuckerberg, has ballooned in recent years. Meanwhile, his estimated effective tax rate in California was less than 1% , external each year.

Nevertheless, Zuckerberg told Meta's board last month that he was thinking of moving his primary residence out of California, and even selling his property in the state. His main homes in Californa are in Palo Alto and Lake Tahoe.

Such a move "would be public and inevitably noted and commented upon by company employees", Zuckerberg told the board.

It would also "raise questions for management of the company going forward", he claimed.

In response, Meta decided to create more shares of stock in the company in order to give Zuckerberg a way to essentially make up any wealth he may lose through the tax proposal.

Through what's known as a stock split announced by the company on Wednesday , Meta created an entirely new type of stock and gave one new share to each existing shareholder. Zuckerberg is one of the company's largest shareholders and famously controls the company through the design of his holdings.

Through the deal, he will receive more stock, more often, and also be able to sell it on a quarterly basis, according to the company's financial filing. The shares will not change his level control over Meta, but they will allow him to cash in more easily on the company's value.

The deal appears to be effective even if the one-time tax in California does not pass, and will go on for eight years - as long as Zuckerberg remains a resident of California.

Meta called the deal with Zuckerberg its "Founder Alignment Agreement," saying it was "critically important" to keep him leading the company from California given the "dramatic and unprecedented transformation taking place in the tech industry and global economy related to artificial intelligence."

The company alluded to problems the company experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic, when Zuckerberg began working outside of the office and mostly from his large compound in Kauai, Hawaii.

After a surge in hiring at Meta during the pandemic, a whistleblower scandal that led to renewed focus on child safety, and a refocus within the company to building out the "metaverse," which included renaming the company Meta from Facebook, the company began mass layoffs and restructuring.

Layoffs have continued into this year. The company's headcount is down 15% from a year ago, meaning it has shed at least 10,000 workers.

Today, the company has moved away from the "metaverse," or virtual platforms, and is more focused on artificial intelligence products and related tools.

With Zuckerberg leading the company's efforts to catch up in the AI race, Meta's board said it sees a future of "tremendous market opportunity" for the company.

Major tech companies are set to spend an estimated $1 trillion , external this year alone developing AI and the costly infrastructure around it, like data centres .

Meta said on Wednesday it planned to spend as much as $145bn this year on AI projects. The company has increased the amount it expects to spend on AI each financial quarter so far this year.

It is spending so much on the technology that it posted negative cash flow for the first time since the company went public 14 years ago. Cash flow represents the money a company retains after paying for operations and investments, meaning Meta is now spending more money than it is bringing in.

And the company intends to spend even more in the year ahead. Susan Li, Meta's chief financial officer, said on Wednesday that another benefit of the stock split would be to give the company more ways to finance future spending on AI work.

The degree of the company's spending on AI, without an clear new revenue stream coming from it, appeared to spook investors on Thursday.

Meta's shares fell more than 7%, wiping more than $100bn off of the company's market capitalisation, a key metric used worldwide to measure the value of a publicly-traded company.

Meta fined $25bn for 'lies' over user data privacy

Kashim Chowdhury wears dark sunglasses, a hat, hoody and gloves as he arrives at court. His face is largely obscured.

A civil servant accused of fraudulently juggling multiple public sector jobs has told the court he "wasn't thinking straight" when he allegedly misled future bosses about his employment status.

Kashim Chowdhury said he was "in a panic" when he applied for a job at the Department of Health (DHSC), failing to declare he was already working at the Department for the Environment (Defra).

The prosecution said he already had three full-time jobs at the time, including roles at the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and East London NHS Trust.

The 55-year-old, who is from east London, is on trial accused of nine counts of fraud. He denies acting dishonestly or intending to make a dishonest gain.

Chowdhury said he was "in a panic'' because he feared losing his Defra job and was uncertain about his future. He told the jury he was "not paying attention, I was not thinking straight',' when filling out the application.

The prosecution said Chowdhury held five jobs on full-time salaries at the height of the alleged deceit.

Civil servant faked illness with make-up to juggle five jobs, court hears

Civil servant admits he 'made mistakes' juggling five government jobs

In the spring of 2023, he was employed by the Defra, the UK Health Security Agency, the Food Standards Agency, the Department for Business and Trade and the Home Office.

The jury was told that throughout this period he was contracted to work 183 hours a week - more than the number of hours that exist in seven days. Each job paid a full-time wage, with Chowdhury paid £11,000 for a single month's work in 2023.

Prosecutors say Chowdhury "exploited" the work-from-home culture which began during the Covid-19 pandemic to hide his multiple jobs and took sick leave from some employers to manage the workload.

But Chowdhury told the court he had not wanted the jobs at the DHSC, Department for Business and Trade and the Home Office.

He told the jury: ''I sent out a flurry of these applications. The offers for these jobs came all at once. I had discussions with my line managers saying that I did not want these jobs and explained my circumstances. These were all short term and probationary and my priority was to look after my mother.''

He added that around May and June 2022, his mother's health "deteriorated".

He said: "That overwhelmed me at the time. It just destroyed me."

Chowdhury described the jobs as his "lifeline at the time".

"They gave me a link to the outside world and were a distraction from what was going on in my personal life, looking after my mum at that time."

The prosecution alleges Chowdhury managed to keep his overlapping jobs secret because he worked entirely remotely. He told his employers he was the sole carer for his elderly mother and the prosecution alleges he "exploited this opportunity".

41-year-old set on ‘dream to be able to race in Africa'

Rwanda to host despite criticism of human rights record

Lewis Hamilton has said he hopes to remain racing in Formula One until he can take part in the African Grand Prix which is set to take place in Rwanda in the 2030s . The seven-time world champion believes it is right that F1 is to hold a race there despite criticism of the country's human rights record.

Last week F1 confirmed Rwanda was to host the African Grand Prix having concluded a 10-year agreement for the meeting on a purpose-built circuit, with the first race set for the early 2030s. It is lined up to be held on a circuit in Bugesera, 25 miles south of the capital, Kigali, which has yet to be constructed and marks a return to the African continent for the first time since it last held a race at Kyalami, South Africa in 1993.

Hamilton has been championing a race in Africa for some time. The 41-year-old is understood to be currently contracted with Ferrari until the end of the 2027 season, and speaking before this weekend's US Grand Prix he said he would like to continue racing for at least another four years in order to make it to the meeting in Rwanda.

"I'm now forced to have to stay a lot longer because we have a race in Africa and that's been my dream to be able to race in Africa," he said. "So, I have to keep fighting to try and stay fit if I can. If I can still punch out good results over the next year, we'll keep it going."

Hamilton would be at least in his mid-40s if he was to continue until 2030. F1's current oldest driver is 45-year-old Fernando Alonso.

F1's deal with Rwanda is for a 10-year period but because of the country's human rights record the award of the race has been criticised as an act of sportswashing.

Britain's 18-year-old Freddie Slater will make his Formula 1 free practice debut for ⁠Audi at next week's Mexico City Grand Prix.

Audi entered Formula 1 this year ⁠after taking over ⁠the ​Sauber team, and Slater was the first driver signed to the team's new driver academy.

Slater ⁠finished second in the Formula 3 standings to Ugo Ugochukwu in his debut season while ⁠racing for Trident Motorsport. He is slated to move ​to Formula 2 with Invicta ‌next year.

"Getting behind the wheel of an F1 car at a grand prix weekend is a big moment for me and something I've been dreaming of since I was a kid," Slater said. "I've learned a ‌lot this year, and these Free practice outings with Audi F1 Team will be another opportunity ​to keep gaining on-track experience."

Slater is also slated to drive in the first practice session at next month's Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

"We have seen Freddie making great progress ⁠throughout recent years, both on and off the track; ​it is ​the right time for ​Freddie to step up," Audi racing director and ​academy director ‌Allan McNish, a former F1 driver himself, said.

"These ​appearances ​in Mexico and Brazil will give him valuable experience of a Formula 1 race weekend, and another chance to continue his development." Reuters

"A 10-year grand prix ‘presented by Visit Rwanda' is a sportswashing prize for the Rwandan authorities," said Felix Jakens, Amnesty UK's head of campaigns. "Rwanda is buying into the world's biggest sports to polish its image and deflect from ⁠its appalling human rights record. Formula One says sport can be ‘a positive force for good'. That rings hollow if F1 shrugs off who it is partnering with. Rwanda's authorities are prolific in arbitrary detention, torture and the repression of free speech."

Hamilton nonetheless felt the meeting would serve as a force for good in Africa and that there also should be more education about the continent.

"I'm really, really hopeful for that grand prix," he said. "Of course, I don't get to choose where we go, and naturally there's problems all over the world today, so I've seen many of the stories but I think we really have to approach it with humility.

"There's a lot that we don't know. I mean, growing up in England, they never ever taught us anything about Africa. It needs to be on the curriculum. A lot of the problems they have there are still results of colonialism, and the West intervening.

"I really hope, and I still have hopes, that Africa unites. I know there's many people that don't want that to happen, because they would be so powerful if they did, but I'm still hopeful that at some stage they will."

The new race is being backed by the government of Rwanda and the Rwanda Development Board, who intend to develop the venue as a destination not only for motorsport but for promoting economic growth. The country has recently invested heavily in hosting sporting events, including cycling's road world championships, cricket's Women's Challenge Trophy, the 2023 Fifa congress and the Basketball Africa League .

Hamilton felt that at least the race would present an opportunity for people to take a greater interest in Africa.

"Going doesn't mean that you neglect the things that are happening there," he said. "Hopefully many people start to educate themselves a little bit more of what is happening there, what has happened there for hundreds of years and I hope that does spark the conversation. Then I guess I'll finish it off with, I think we need to make sure we're pushing to free Congo, free Sudan, free Syria, free Palestine. I think there's a lot of peace that I'm hoping that at some stage we get to."

Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli goes into this weekend's US Grand Prix in a position to clinch his first F1 title. The 20-year-old holds a 102-point lead over his teammate George Russell and will become Formula One's youngest world champion if he wins, Russell finishes ninth or lower and Hamilton is fifth or lower.