The Cost Of Protecting Mark Zuckerberg

According to a financial filing released on Friday, Facebook spent close to $23 million on security for Mark Zuckerberg last year, nearly double the outlay in 2017. Zuckerberg drew a base salary of just $1 over the past three years and according to the filing, his "other compensation" for 2018 came to $22.6 million, nearly all of which was for personal security. Facebook says that the funds are used to cover security at his "residences and during personal travel". It is important to note that the total includes the CEO's use of private jets which the company says is part of his overall security program.

The social network experienced a turbulent 2018 after being rocked by the Cambridge Analytica scandal which saw a political consultancy harvest 87 million Facebook profiles that were then used for political purposes. Scandals and privacy concerns have dogged the company ever since, which has resulted in Zuckerberg coming under more scrutiny and security costs rising sharply. Back in 2016, his security costs came to $6 million before rising to $9.1 million in 2017. COO Sheryl Sandberg also received personal security program compensation last year to the tune of $3.8 million. Of that amount, $2.9 million was directly allocated to her personal security costs.