Sherwood News

Meta spends more than any other US public company on keeping its boss safe outside of work

The murder of Brian Thompson has sent shock waves through the security industry.

12/6/24 9:37AM

New Yorkers woke up on Wednesday morning to the shocking news of the murder of UnitedHealthcare’s top insurance executive, Brian Thompson, in Midtown Manhattan ahead of the company’s investor day.

Online reaction to the murder revealed a deeply rooted frustration — at times spilling into morbid glee, per The New York Times — with America’s healthcare system. It’s also prompted large US companies to reevaluate their security protocols. Indeed, according to The Wall Street Journal, dozens of security chiefs joined a call on Wednesday to discuss safety measures, with some even looking to send armed guards to accompany executives attending conferences this week in New York and other US cities.

The price of safety

Presumably, UnitedHealthcare will now be reviewing its safety protocols, but it’s also likely that other public companies — many of which already spend millions of dollars on security for their top bosses — will consider upping their protection in a permanent way.

For business-related outings, companies don’t need to disclose the cost of security. But if protection is provided outside of work and is deemed to be a perk or personal benefit, that has to be disclosed in SEC filings, and there’s been a major uptick in personal-security outlays: the median amount spent by S&P 500 companies that disclosed security spending doubled from 2021 to 2023 to nearly $100,000, according to an analysis by executive-compensation data provider Equilar cited by Bloomberg.

This includes a whopping $23 million compensation for Meta’s $1 salary CEO Mark Zuckerberg. That’s more than 3x the not-so-close runner-up, Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai, and, as mentioned, doesn’t include any security spending during work travels or at offices. The social-media giant is obviously concerned about protecting its chief executive, who “is synonymous with Meta” and as a result is exposed to any “negative sentiment” associated with the company, per its SEC filing.

Elon Musk also owns a security company tasked with protecting... Elon Musk. Tesla has paid this security company nearly $3 million since December 2023.

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eBay stock slumps on gloomy Q4 outlook despite solid Q3 earnings

Shares of eBay fell as much as 10.5% in premarket trading on Thursday morning after the company gave a lower-than-expected profit forecast for the important holiday shopping season.

The e-commerce giant reported solid numbers for the third quarter on Wednesday, with revenue up 9% as reported to $2.8 billion and gross merchandise volume rising 10% to $20.1 billion, topping the average analyst forecast of $19.4 billion, per Bloomberg.

However, concerns about the future somewhat overshadowed these results.

eBay outlined its profit outlook for the period ending in December to $1.31 to $1.36 a share, with revenue at $2.83 billion to $2.89 billion. According to Bloomberg-compiled data, this broadly matches Wall Street’s estimates for the top line, but misses on the bottom line, with analysts forecasting EPS to come in at $1.39 — suggesting the company expects some further margin pressure.

The company has been facing macroeconomic challenges since the US ended the de minimis tariff exemption in late August, with the online marketplace reliant on shipments. One small silver lining? CFO Peggy Alford highlighted a “less durable trend” on a post-earnings call: that as commodity prices for precious metals boomed, demand for bullion and collectible coins on eBay spiked.