Mark Zuckerberg, like a number of wealthy CEOs desiring to recieve “humble” compensation, has an official salary of just $1 a year.
However, according to a financial filing published last Friday, Facebook racked up a whopping $23 million for the company founder’s personal security and travel costs in 2019.
This includes “approximately $10,463,717” for “costs related to personal security for Zuckerberg at his home and during his personal travel.”
“Mr. Zuckerberg is one of the most-recognized executives in the world, in large part as a result of the size of our user base and our continued exposure to global media, legislative, and regulatory attention,” said the filing,
“He is synonymous with Facebook and, as a result, negative sentiment regarding our company is directly associated with, and often transferred to, Mr. Zuckerberg,” it continued.
Apparently this “negative sentiment” is such that it requires something akin to a private army or Zuck’s own secret service, given the massive personal security cost is approaching that of some heads of small foreign countries.
By comparison, Facebook spent $9.1 million for his security in 2017, and $20 million in 2018. The 2018 security expenditures broke down to about $20,000 a day to protect him.
CNBC adds:
The filing also shows Zuckerberg required $2.95 million for private aircraft costs. He spent $2.59 million on private air travel in 2018 and $1.52 million on it in 2017.
All of the expenses are filed under “Other compensation” for Zuckerberg.
Some reports have pointed to a series of “non-stop scandals” of the past two years which have put even more of a spotlight on Zuckerberg.
“It has been under fire for everything from personal privacy issues following revelations that data-firm Cambridge Analytica collected information on 87 million Facebook users, to enabling the spread of white supremacy and hate speech on the platform,” CNN notes. “Those events have drawn a large amount of exposure for the company and its 34-year-old co-founder.”
