Mark Zuckerberg goes to great lengths to protect himself. It makes sense: Critics say his social networks are bad for your mental health; he’s aggressively hiring people across Silicon Valley to staff up his ambitious AI projects (which are, unto themselves, polarizing); and he owns wide swaths of land in Hawaii, which has rankled residents and activists alike. It makes sense that he might want to shield his livelihood, considering he’s almost certainly the target of public ire.
According to a new Financial Times analysis, security budgets for the chief executives of 10 major tech companies climbed above $45 million in 2024—but still, nobody protects their boss more than Meta does for Zuckerberg.
Across the board, companies like Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, and Palantir all increased protection budgets by more than 10% year over year, driven by heightened threats and a worsening security environment for public-facing business leaders. But Meta’s security allocation for Zuckerberg reached more than $27 million in 2024, up from $24 million the previous year.
This dwarfs the amount spent by peers: In 2024, Nvidia spent $3.5 million to secure CEO Jensen Huang, an increase from $2.2 million the previous year. Amazon allocated $1.1 million for CEO Andy Jassy, while former CEO Jeff Bezos continued to receive $1.6 million annually toward his personal security. Apple spent $1.4 million to protect Tim Cook in 2024, which was actually lower than the $2.4 million spent in 2023. Alphabet’s security spending for Sundar Pichai reached $6.8 million, according to public data, and Tesla disclosed it spent just $500,000 to protect Elon Musk, although industry experts emphasize that this sum represents only a small portion of his actual security expenses as the world’s richest man has his own security companies like Foundation Security.
Notably, if you add up how much Apple, Nvidia, Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Palo Alto Networks spent protecting their CEOs in 2024, it’s still about $7 million—26%—less than what Meta spent to guard Zuckerberg.
Security in Silicon Valley
For what it’s worth, Meta’s security program is a bit different from the others as it covers Zuckerberg’s residences, family, and travel, since Zuckerberg is synonymous with Meta, né Facebook. As both CEO and cofounder, he also holds majority voting power—and a lot of people have strong feelings about Zuckerberg given his very public role in society, layoffs, and consumer privacy.
Security in Silicon Valley is often managed by private security firms, many of which are staffed by former law enforcement and military professionals. Hamilton Security, founded by former FBI agent James Hamilton, provides comprehensive assessments and risk mitigation services. Gavin de Becker & Associates and LaSorsa & Associates are also considered major players, protecting executives like Musk and Bezos, respectively. Their services include risk assessment, intelligence monitoring, residential security with hardened features (e.g., Amazon’s bulletproof panels), 24/7 personal protective details, secure transportation, cybersecurity, anti-stalking measures, as well as preparation for assassination attempts, kidnap attempts, and digital threats such as deepfakes.
Palantir’s Alex Karp, for example, who runs a data-intelligence company with controversial defense contracts, employs a 24/7 security detail with up to four visible bodyguards. Nvidia’s Huang, who nabbed the top spot on Fortune’s Most Powerful People in Business list this year, saw a rise in his protection budget as his net worth soared and global profile increased, including reports of being mobbed by fans.
The assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last December led to some of the rising spend among executives, but it forced some protocol changes as well. Some companies have removed photos of leadership from their corporate websites, invested in home defenses and cyber protection, and enforced stricter travel policies: Lockheed Martin, for example, mandates its CEO use corporate jets.
Meta did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment on its security spend for Zuckerberg.
For this story, Fortune used generative AI to help with an initial draft. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing.
