Mark Zuckerberg Gains Extra $4m To Protect Him, Family

Meta Platforms has given CEO Mark Zuckerberg a big increase in his personal security allowance, in order to protect him and his family.

In a filing with the SEC, Meta revealed it had increased the security allowance given to Mark Zuckerberg and his family by $4 million to $14 million in total.

The filing revealed a disturbing statement. “As previously disclosed…the Board of Directors … has authorised an overall security program for Mark Zuckerberg to address safety concerns due to specific threats to his safety arising directly as a result of his position as Meta’s founder, Chairman, and CEO.”

Personal security

The filing revealed that back in 2018 Meta had approved an annual pre-tax allowance of $10 million to Zuckerberg to cover additional costs related to his and his family’s personal security.

This was “to pay for additional personnel, equipment, services, residential improvements, or other security-related costs.”

Last week Meta “approved increasing this annual pre-tax allowance to $14 million, effective immediately.”

Meta said the increase reflects Zuckerberg’s position and importance to Meta and the fact that “Zuckerberg has requested to receive only $1 in annual salary and does not receive any bonus payments, equity awards, or other incentive compensation.”

Meta looked at how much the Zuckerberg’s actually spend on security-related costs.

“The Committee believes that this increased allowance, together with the costs of Mr. Zuckerberg’s existing overall security program, are appropriate and necessary under the circumstances,” the filing states.

Job losses

The increase to Mark Zuckerberg’s personal security allowance comes at a time when Meta is in the process of cutting thousands of jobs, and slashing spending plans, for a period that Zuckerberg has called the “Year of Efficiency.”

Zuckerberg had announced last November that Meta was axing 13 percent of its workforce, or 11,000 staff, which should be completed by the end of Q1 2023.

38-year-old Zuckerberg is currently ranked as the 16th richest person in the Forbes billionaire list with a net worth of over $63 billion.

He had previously earned a salary and compensation package of about $27 million in 2021.

It is unclear at the time of writing when Zuckerberg’s request for $1 in annual salary actually began, and whether this included his 2022 salary.