On February 15, Meta Platforms revealed that it has increased the security allowance provided to Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and his family by $4 million, for a total increase of $14 million.
The choice was taken shortly after Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook and Instagram, reduced spending plans and fired off over 11,000 workers in what he has nicknamed the “Year of Efficiency.”
“This increased allowance, together with the costs of Zuckerberg’s existing overall security program, are appropriate and necessary under the circumstances,”Meta stated in a document.
Since Zuckerberg only received a $1 base salary and no stock-based bonuses, the majority of his income was used to pay for security. Forbes estimates Zuckerberg’s net worth to be around $78 billion.
Although Meta claims that the budget is $14 million, it will most likely end up costing much more to protect Zuckerberg and his family. The corporation spent more than $15 million in 2021 on costs related to protecting its CEO while he was at home and conducting personal business.
The aforementioned budget does not include the additional $10 million allotted to Zuckerberg as a pre-tax allowance for the security of his family or the $1.6 million for personal use of a private jet. Because of this, even though this time’s budget is $14 million, the Meta CEO will definitely spend significantly more on security.
Zuckerberg stated that he was to blame for the company’s quick growth in November 2022, after Meta had let go 11,000 people, because he had bet against the longevity of the spike in social media use and online shopping during the pandemic.Even if the corporation continues to operate with 13% fewer employees, the employment cuts are expected to save $1.5 billion, or barely 1 percent of operating margin.
Zuckerberg’s protection expenditures are more than most of his contemporaries, despite the fact that businesses frequently spend a lot of money on security and travel costs for significant leaders.
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, spent around $1.6 million on security and business travel in 2022. Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, spent $1,030,630 on security costs and $712,488 on travel.
