Mark Zuckerberg’s security costs last year: US$23.4 million

Facebook spent more than US$23.4 million on security costs for CEO Mark Zuckerberg in 2020, according to the company's annual executive compensation report.

Zuckerberg receives a pre-tax annual allowance of US$10 million for his family's security, and in 2020, Facebook spent an additional US$13.4 million on personal security for Zuckerberg “at his residences and during personal travel pursuant to Mr Zuckerberg's overall security programme,” the filing said.

In total, Facebook's expenditure is greater than the combined cost of providing security for 10 other top tech executives, which an analysis of CEO security during the pandemic by Protocol tallied up to US$23.3 million.

Facebook's Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg was the runner-up in the Protocol tally, with more than US$7.6 million spent on her safety in 2020. Alphabet's Sundar Pichai came in third with US$5.4 million.

Former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was compensated US$1.6 million by his company for security, while he paid additional costs himself. Meanwhile, Uber paid US$120,000 to set up CEO Dara Khosrowshahi's home office, and has assigned a security specialist to his house, Protocol reported.

In 2019 Facebook spent US$20.4 million on protecting its founder, including US$10.4 on personal security and the annual allowance of US$10 million for his family's security. The company also spent US$2.9 million on his private jets.