The shocking murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson highlighted an unfortunate risk. And some S&P 500 companies aren't taking any chances.
S&P 500 companies spent $41.6 million combined last year on personal security for 10 CEOs, including Meta Platforms' Mark Zuckerberg, Blackstone's Stephen Schwarzman and Alphabet's Sundar Pichai, says an Investor's Business Daily analysis of data from S&P Global Market Intelligence and MarketSurge. UnitedHealth Group, the parent of UnitedHealthcare, didn't disclose any spending on security for any of its executives.
Companies don't expressly disclose their spending on executive security. But it's an expense added to "all other compensation" at firms — and then itemized if a significant amount. This analysis looked at the S&P 500 companies with the most significant "all other compensation" that disclosed spending on security.
Keeping Zuckerberg Safe
Facebook innovator Mark Zuckerberg is one S&P 500 CEO worth special mention. Meta Platforms spent $23.4 million on security for Zuckerberg and his family last year. That's much higher than what most other firms — even in the technology industry — spend safeguarding their CEOs.
In its filing, Meta said Zuckerberg "is one of the most-recognized executives in the world" has been targeted in "specific threats." It also pointed out Zuckerberg's role "puts him in a unique position: He is synonymous with Meta and, as a result, negative sentiment regarding our company is directly associated with, and often transferred to, Mr. Zuckerberg."
The company pays for Zuckerberg's security his "residences" and during personal travel, "including the annual costs of security personnel for his protection and the procurement," the filing said.
Technology firms, though, do tend to be some of the biggest spenders on security. Alphabet spent $6.8 million last year on private security for the online search firm's CEO Sundar Pichai. And Nvidia spent $2.2 million protecting its CEO, Jen-Hsun Huang.
Not all tech CEOs have million-dollar-plus security plans. Apple CEO Time Cook received protection worth a relative bargain of $820,309 last year. And that makes Zuckerberg's plan look even more like an outlier.
Meta spent $9.4 million just protecting Zuckerberg. And it cost an additional $14 million to cover his family's protection. Interestingly, Meta has been cutting the amount it spent on Zuckerberg's protect in recent years. In 2022, Meta spent $14.8 million protecting Zuckerberg and $2.3 million on his family.
Other Big Security Bills
Big Tech usually spends large amounts protecting CEOs. But it's not the only industry that does.
Private equity firm Blackstone committed $4.6 million protecting its co-CEO and cofounder Schwarzman last year. The company considers him so vital to the operations, that keeping him safe is a company expense, the filing states. "Mr. Schwarzman is provided certain security services, which may include home security systems and monitoring, and personal and related security services. These security services are provided for our benefit, and we consider the related expenses to be appropriate business expenses rather than personal benefits for Mr. Schwarzman," the filing says.
Even companies in the security business spend keeping their executives safe. Data security firm Palantir Technologies spend $1.3 million last year on security for CEO Alexander Karp.
It'll be interesting to see if other S&P 500 companies revisit their plans this year for keeping their CEO safe.
Some Big S&P 500 Spending On CEO Security
| CEO | Company | Ticker | Security expense |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zuckerberg, Mark | Meta Platforms | META | $23,431,139 |
| Pichai, Sundar | Alphabet | GOOGL | 6,775,631 |
| Schwarzman, Stephen | Blackstone | BX | 4,579,444 |
| Huang, Jen-Hsun | Nvidia | NVDA | 2,229,935 |
| Benioff, Marc | Salesforce | CRM | 1,539,980 |
| Karp, Alexander | Palantir Technologies | PLTR | 1,299,766 |
| Iger, Robert | Walt Disney | DIS | 1,236,703 |
| Goldstein, Robert | Las Vegas Sands | LVS | 991,905 |
| Cook, Timothy | Apple | AAPL | 820,309 |
| Bourla, Albert | Pfizer | PFE | 789,495 |
