Spending on CEO security surged over the last year
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Companies are spending more on CEO security — everything from bodyguards to home security systems and armored cars, per a report out Thursday on executive pay.
Why it matters: High-profile shootings have executives on alert, a simmering fear that jumped considerably last year after the deadly shooting of UnitedHealthcare's Brian Thompson.
- Anxiety increased last summer after a deadly shooting inside a Manhattan office building that's home to some heavy-hitting firms — including consultancy KPMG and investment company Blackstone.
By the numbers: 25% of CEOs at S&P 500 firms receive personal and home security benefits, up from 18% the year before, according to the report from The Conference Board, a nonprofit research group, along with ESGauge, an analytics platform.
- The firms analyzed disclosures from public companies made for the year ending Sept. 2025.
- Smaller firms were less likely to shell out on security — just 7% of firms on the Russell 3000 index disclosed such spending over that period, up from 5% the prior year.
Threat level: The report likely understates how much CEOs are spending to feel safer. The data only partially cover the period after United's Thompson was shot outside a midtown Manhattan hotel.
- Fears among corporate leaders were rising well before that happened, says Andrew Jones, principal researcher at the Conference Board, who coauthored the report.
- Not all companies break out security spending in filings the same way, and some CEOs are spending on protection out of their own pockets.
Follow the money: Security spending by companies varies widely. The median spend per executive at S&P 500 companies was around $75,000 a year, the Conference Board tells Axios.
- But among the top 10% of spenders that number rises to $1.2 million and likely includes full-time protection teams, armored vehicles, advanced monitoring, threat intelligence, and more, Jones says.
- Meta reportedly spent $27 million protecting CEO Mark Zuckerberg last year, including security for his family members, per the Financial Times.
The big picture: The public has a fraught relationship with corporate chieftains.
- But in recent years that hostility has been heightened by increasing political polarization, Jones says.
- And it's fueled online — where it's both easier to find executives' information and to turn up the heat on people's emotions.
What to watch: The Conference Board's Jones expects another big jump in security spending in next year's report.
