Mark Zuckerberg goes to nice lengths to guard himself. It is smart: Critics say his social networks are unhealthy to your psychological well being, he’s aggressively hiring individuals throughout Silicon Valley to workers up his bold AI initiatives (that are, unto themselves, polarizing), and he owns extensive swaths of land in Hawaii, which has rankled residents and activists alike. It is smart that he would possibly wish to protect his livelihood, contemplating he’s virtually actually the goal of public ire.
In accordance with a new Monetary Occasions evaluation, safety budgets for the chief executives of 10 main tech firms climbed above $45 million in 2024—however nonetheless, no one protects their boss greater than Meta does for Zuckerberg.
Throughout the board, firms like Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, and Palantir all elevated safety budgets by greater than 10% 12 months over 12 months, pushed by heightened threats and a worsening safety surroundings for public-facing enterprise leaders. However Meta’s safety allocation for Zuckerberg reached greater than $27 million in 2024, up from $24 million the earlier 12 months.
This dwarfs the quantities spent by friends: In 2024, Nvidia spent $3.5 million to safe CEO Jensen Huang, a rise from $2.2 million the earlier 12 months. Amazon allotted $1.1 million for CEO Andy Jassy, whereas former CEO Jeff Bezos continued to obtain $1.6 million yearly towards his private safety. Apple spent $1.4 million to guard Tim Prepare dinner in 2024, which was truly decrease than the $2.4 million spent in 2023. Alphabet’s safety spending for Sundar Pichai reached $6.8 million, in accordance with public knowledge, and Tesla disclosed it spent simply $500,000 to guard Elon Musk, though trade consultants emphasize that this sum represents solely a small portion of his precise safety bills as the world’s richest man has his personal safety firms like Basis Safety.
Notably, in case you add up how a lot Apple, Nvidia, Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Palo Alto Networks spent defending their CEOs in 2024, it’s nonetheless about $7 million—26%—lower than what Meta spent to protect Zuckerberg.
Safety in Silicon Valley
For what it’s price, Meta’s safety program is a bit completely different from the others because it covers Zuckerberg’s residences, household, and journey, since Zuckerberg is synonymous with Meta, née Fb. As each CEO and cofounder, he additionally holds majority voting energy—and lots of people have robust emotions about Zuckerberg given his very public function in society, layoffs, and client privateness.
Safety in Silicon Valley is usually managed by private-security corporations, lots of that are staffed by former legislation enforcement and navy professionals. Hamilton Safety, based by former FBI agent James Hamilton, offers complete assessments and danger mitigation companies. Gavin de Becker & Associates and LaSorsa Safety & Associates are additionally thought of main gamers, defending executives like Musk and Bezos, respectively. Their companies embody danger evaluation, intelligence monitoring, residential safety with hardened options (e.g., Amazon’s bulletproof panels), 24/7 private protecting particulars, safe transportation, cybersecurity, anti-stalking measures, in addition to preparation for assassination makes an attempt, kidnap makes an attempt, and digital threats equivalent to deepfakes.
Palantir’s Alex Karp, for instance, who runs a data-intelligence firm with controversial protection contracts, employs a 24/7 safety element with as much as 4 seen bodyguards. Nvidia’s Huang, who nabbed the highest spot on Fortune‘s Most Highly effective Individuals in Enterprise checklist this 12 months, noticed an increase in his safety price range as his internet price soared and international profile elevated, together with reviews of being mobbed by followers.
The assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson final December led to a few of the rising spend amongst executives, however it additionally pressured some protocol modifications as effectively. Some firms have eliminated photographs of their management from their company web sites, invested in house defenses and cyber safety, and enforced stricter journey insurance policies: Lockheed Martin, for instance, mandates its CEO use company jets.
Meta didn’t instantly reply to Fortune‘s request for touch upon its safety spend for Zuckerberg.
For this story, Fortune used generative AI to assist with an preliminary draft. An editor verified the accuracy of the knowledge earlier than publishing.
