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30/04/2016

Mark Zuckerberg’s Security Tops Security Expenses for all other Major IT Companies




Mark Zuckerberg’s Security Tops Security Expenses for all other Major IT Companies
In what is its first disclosure of such costs, Facebook Inc revealed that it spent $4.26 million on security for Mark Zuckerberg last year. This is the highest spending among companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index that have filed proxy statements for fiscal 2015.

According to a regulatory filing, the expense brings the total cost from 2013 to 2015 to $12.5 million. The company said in the filing that the cost was "to address safety concerns due to specific threats to his safety arising directly as a result of his position as our founder, chairman, and CEO".
 
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with a total wealth of $47 billion, Zukerberg is the world's eighth-richest person.
 
$5.6 million in 2014 and $2.65 million in 2013 was spent for Zukerberg’s security, the company declared. According to data compiled by Bloomberg, last year's expense of Facebook exceeds the $1.53 million Oracle Corp spent to protect executive chairman Larry Ellison in fiscal 2015 and Amazon.com Inc's $1.6 million for Jeff Bezos.
 
The figure also outstrips other famous executives.
 
For the purpose of personal and home security for billionaire Warren Buffett in 2015, Berkshire Hathaway Inc paid $370,244. Apple Inc spent $209,151 on Tim Cook.

After the US Securities and Exchange Commission in August questioned why the costs had never been listed in filings as a taxable perquisite, Facebook made the disclosure this week. A "business oriented security concern" identified for Zuckerberg exempted it from having to report those expenses was the argument that Facebook put forward in response.
 
According to a filing, the company reserved its position after discussions with SEC staff. Facebook spokesman Jonathan Thaw declined to comment.
 
A home security system and guards who also protect Zukerberg’s house in San Francisco's Mission District is provided to the founder by Facebook. A former US Secret Service agent who protected President Barack Obama oversees the team for Zukerberg’s security.
 
Peter Martin, chief executive of security consultancy Afimac Global says that security "should be a board of directors' first and foremost concern," especially at companies built around a central figure.
 
However that doesn't come cheap. Christopher Falkenberg, chief executive of New York-based Insite Security Inc said that each around-the-clock assignment requires four full-time guards, which annually can cost more than $80,000 each. A security director can earn about $200,000 a year.
 
Martin said that camera surveillance, pressure pads located near doors or walkways to detect movement, and dense vegetation or crushed gravel that's noisy to walk on beneath windows to deter intruders were included in the home protection systems.
 
(Source:timesofindia.indiatimes.com) 

Christopher J. Mitchell

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