The tech sector has seen the biggest increase in companies implementing security measures for executives, with a 73.5 percent increase in beneficiaries from 2020 to 2024, according to a report from Equilar. Meta has long had the highest security bill among big tech companies. Facebook’s parent company paid more than $27 million in 2024, up from $24 million the year before, for the personal security of Mark Zuckerberg and his family.
Big tech groups including Meta, Alphabet and Nvidia have sharply increased spending on personal security as their leaders take an increasingly public role in US politics and face hostility from corporate leaders. The security budgets for the CEOs of the 10 biggest tech companies analyzed by the Financial Times rose to more than $45 million in 2024. Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Nvidia and Palantir all increased their defense budgets by more than 10 percent compared to the previous year. Security experts say spending and concerns about threats to tech bosses have increased this year after high-profile attacks in the US targeting corporate executives.
“I’ve never seen a higher level of threat or concern than today,” said James Hamilton, founder of Hamilton Security, a former FBI agent and former vice president of Gavin de Becker and Associates, a company that has provided security services to Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. “People are focusing on the CEO of a company as a representative of everything that’s wrong with the world,” he added.
A wave of online support for Luigi Mangione, accused of killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson last year, has raised concerns among business leaders about new attacks and forced companies to review their security protocols. They also cited another wave of requests after the shooting deaths of four people at a New York office complex in July. The gunman targeted the National Football League (NFL) because of a grievance he had with the organization, city officials said. “The first half of this year has been as busy for us as all of 2024,” said Joe LaSorsa, founder of LaSorsa Security & Associates, a company that specializes in protecting executives.
He added that the company has received five times more requests for risk assessments in recent months and has seen a “tremendous increase” in attacks on executives’ homes. Tech executives are particularly vulnerable because of their fame, as well as public hostility to corporate profits, layoffs, data misuse and their increasingly political role since the 2024 presidential campaign.
The tech sector has seen the biggest increase in companies implementing security measures for executives, with a 73.5 percent increase in beneficiaries from 2020 to 2024, according to a report from Equilar. Meta has long had the highest security bill among big tech companies. The parent company of Facebook paid more than $27 million in 2024, up from $24 million the year before, for the personal security of Mark Zuckerberg and his family, including residences and travel, according to official statements. Meta’s costs are significantly higher than those of competitors because the company has agreed to provide direct security for Zuckerberg’s family members, not just the CEO himself.
As Facebook’s CEO and founder, Zuckerberg has retained majority voting power, which gives him greater influence over board decisions than his counterparts. Other high-profile figures like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk pay large sums for personal security, which is separate from their companies’ publicly reported expenses.
Extremely high salaries and publicly reported stock awards make tech executives particularly vulnerable. The rise in tech stocks in recent years has led to multibillion-dollar paydays for some executives. Palantir CEO Alex Karp’s personal wealth grew by nearly $7 billion in 2024. Karp has received death threats over his data intelligence group’s work for the Israeli military, while the company’s Silicon Valley offices have been vandalized during protests over Palantir’s contracts with U.S. immigration authorities, according to people familiar with the matter. Karp has a 24/7 security team and has been seen with up to four bodyguards at a time.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s net worth has reached more than $153 billion, as the chip company became the first to be worth $4 trillion last month. Nvidia is spending $3.5 million on Huang’s security in 2024, up from $2.2 million in 2023.
A person close to Nvidia said Huang’s security has increased as his fame has grown, fueled by his prominent role in lobbying the Trump administration to export artificial intelligence chips to China and the company’s soaring stock price. Huang has emerged as a key figure in the AI boom and is known for his engagement with fans, which could increase his risk. Fans were seen crowding him in the restroom at the company’s annual GTC conference in California in March. Meanwhile, Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has significantly beefed up his personal security in recent years due to death threats and obsessive followers.
His public profile rose even further last year after he became President Donald Trump’s biggest donor and supported right-wing activists in Germany and the United Kingdom through his social platform X. “We’ve actually had two maniacs in the last seven months who came in with the intention of killing me,” Musk told Tesla shareholders last year.
Musk now travels with up to 20 security professionals, according to people familiar with the matter. Last year, he founded his own security company, Foundation Security. Tesla reported spending $2.4 million on Musk’s security in 2023 and hired his own security company. In 2024, it reported just $500.000, but added that that represented only a fraction of his actual security costs. Musk’s private companies, including SpaceX and xAI, do not disclose how much they spend on his protection. Amazon has paid $1.6 million a year for Jeff Bezos’ security since at least 2010. Last year, the company also paid CEO Andy Jassy $1.1 million, up from $986 the year before.
Bezos has often been the focus of public criticism over his personal wealth, tax dealings and the company’s approach to issues such as workers’ rights. The e-commerce group installed 1.5-inch-thick bulletproof panels at its Seattle headquarters in early 2019, several years before Bezos stepped down as CEO.
Not all tech leaders increased their security spending last year, however. Palo Alto Networks doubled CEO Nikesh Arora’s security spending in 2023 to $3.5 million, but cut it to $1.6 million in 2024. Even security costs for Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, fell from $2.4 million in 2023 to $1.4 million last year. Increased security concerns have affected businesses across all sectors. After the killing of Brian Thompson, companies like CVS Pharmacy and Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield removed photos and biographies of their executives from their official websites, according to a report by shareholder advisory firm Glass Lewis.
Companies have also implemented stricter travel policies for executives. For example, defense contractor Lockheed Martin has mandated that its CEO use only private corporate jets.
JPMorgan is spending $882 on Jamie Dimon’s security in 2024, up from $866 in 2023 and $761 in 2022, according to the filing. Fox News reported an annual increase in home security costs for CEO Lachlan Murdoch since 2020, citing strong public sentiment toward his broadcasts, especially during election years. “Previously, executives would be attacked by someone with a personal grudge, like a disgruntled employee or former business partner, but now the violence is directed at senior leadership of companies,” said Lianne Kennedy-Boudali, executive security consultant at global risk consulting firm Control Risks.
In addition to death threats, security firms are being asked to protect against attempted kidnappings, home invasions and stalking. Executives also face cyberthreats, including the use of artificial intelligence to create “deepfakes” voices that approve fund transfers to irreversible destinations, such as cryptocurrency wallets.
Roderick Jones, founder of executive security group Concentric, said that any company that combines “deep public discontent with a broad base of shareholders and prominent executives now faces a higher risk profile.” Cryptocurrency founders and investors have been among the first and most enthusiastic adopters of security measures. Coinbase spent $6.2 million on CEO Brian Armstrong’s personal security last year. A series of kidnapping attempts on crypto executives and their families has heightened the sense of danger in Europe and the US.
This threat is partly fueled by a “persistent negative narrative towards tech leaders and the politicization of the sector in general,” according to Konstantin Richter, founder of the $3.3 billion crypto company Blockdaemon. “Whenever the market goes up, things get weird,” he added. “Keeping a low profile is key.” (Financial Times)