Security spending on company CEOs is poised to skyrocket
We’ll probably see a big uptick in companies following Meta’s lead on paying for executive security in 2025.
The biggest story of December has been the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. I’m not going to comment on the ongoing investigation, but in the wake of the shooting, The Wall Street Journal published an interesting piece on company spend on executive security outside of work, citing a report from executive-intelligence provider Equilar.
The report says that 27.6% of S&P 500 companies provided security for at least one top executive, up from 23.5% in 2021, and median spending doubled to almost $100,000. (Note: these figures don’t include security spend that occurs in offices or on work travel, as those are considered normal business expenses.) Within that 27.6%, there are some strong outliers.
Meta spent $24.39 million, more than triple the next highest spender, Alphabet, which came in at $6.78 million. UnitedHealthcare, notably, didn’t have any listed costs in 2023. But after that recent shooting, security spend is poised for an uptick:
“Dozens of security chiefs from large U.S. companies met on a call Wednesday to discuss security protocols. One security adviser, Global Guardian CEO Dale Buckner, said he fielded calls from companies looking to send armed guards to accompany executives attending conferences in New York and other U.S. cities this week.”
Given risks posed by the internet, that increase in security spend is probably overdue. The internet has introduced two risk factors for known figures:
It’s much, much easier to find someone’s personal information, such as where they live, what their travel itinerary might be for work events, etc.
Social media is a catalyst for unrest, as it facilitates frictionless communication between individuals with similar gripes.
At any given time, any number of people can be upset about any number of things, including the climate crisis, health insurance, poorly timed layoffs, and politics. Executives of companies deemed to be tied to one of these issues often become targets of this angst, social media allows for the creation of echo chambers of like-minded individuals who share that angst, personal information on these individuals is more accessible than it was pre-internet, and it takes only one person to create a tragedy.
Given that every company in the S&P 500 is worth at least $6 billion, I’m surprised that just ~27% of companies so far have paid for additional security for company executives. I imagine that next quarter’s earnings season will show several companies adding a new line-item expense for “personal security.”
