Major US technology companies are dramatically increasing spending on personal security for their chief executives, amid a surge in threats, public hostility, and incidents of violence targeting high-profile business leaders.
According to a Financial Times analysis, the combined security budgets for CEOs at 10 leading tech firms exceeded $45 million in 2024 — with Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Nvidia, and Palantir each raising their protection spending by more than 10% year-on-year.
Security experts say concern has reached unprecedented levels. “I’ve never seen the threat or the concern higher than it is today,” said James Hamilton, founder of Hamilton Security and a former FBI agent. “People are fixating on the leader of a company as the representation of all that is wrong with the world.”
The trend has accelerated following high-profile incidents, including the December 2024 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York. The charged shooter, Luigi Mangione, received widespread online support, prompting companies to overhaul security protocols. Other violent incidents, such as the July shooting at a New York office building that left four dead, have further fuelled corporate caution.
Tech CEOs: High Profiles, Higher Risks
Meta continues to have the largest security budget in the sector, spending more than $27 million last year to protect CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his family — up from $24 million in 2023. The spending covers protection at home and during travel, with the company directly funding security for Zuckerberg’s relatives.
Nvidia increased CEO Jensen Huang’s protection budget from $2.2 million in 2023 to $3.5 million in 2024, reflecting his growing fame amid the AI boom and Nvidia’s record-breaking $4 trillion market valuation. Huang’s security detail reportedly expanded after fans mobbed him during a company conference earlier this year.
Other tech leaders have also ramped up measures. Palantir CEO Alex Karp, whose personal wealth rose nearly $7 billion last year, maintains a 24/7 security detail amid threats linked to the company’s government contracts. Tesla’s Elon Musk now travels with as many as 20 security professionals and has even launched his own security firm, Foundation Security, following multiple attempted attacks.
Corporate America Follows Suit
The heightened threat environment is not limited to the tech sector. Amazon has long paid $1.6 million annually for Jeff Bezos’s security and increased spending for CEO Andy Jassy last year. JPMorgan Chase and Fox Corporation have also boosted protection budgets for their leaders.
Some companies have adopted extreme precautions, such as removing executive photos from websites and enforcing strict travel policies that require CEOs to use private corporate aircraft.
Security consultants say the nature of threats is changing, shifting from isolated personal grievances to broader political and ideological hostility toward corporate leadership. Risks now include kidnapping attempts, home invasions, stalking, and cyber-enabled fraud using AI-generated deepfakes.
“Any company that combines deep public resentment with a large retail shareholder base and visible executives now faces a structurally higher tail-risk profile,” said Roderick Jones, founder of executive security firm Concentric.
With tech CEOs increasingly acting as public political figures and symbols of economic inequality, experts warn the boom in personal security spending is unlikely to slow — and may soon become a permanent cost of doing business in the modern corporate world.
