Meta Ramps Up Spending on Zuckerberg’s Personal Security to $14 Million Despite ‘Year of Efficiency’ Pledge

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies during a remote video hearing held by subcommittees of the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, on Mar. 25, 2021. U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee/Handout via Reuters

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg is increasing spending on his own security to $14 million, despite a pledge to make 2023 a “year of efficiency.”

The decision comes just after 11.000 jobs, or 13 percent of the workforce, were eliminated late last year and future spending plans for projects were cut at the social media company.

Zuckerberg told investors in February that Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, would reduce spending and increase efficiency, after a year of disappointing results last year.

However, the social networking platform will increase its pretax spending on Zuckerberg’s personal security by 40 percent, from $10 million to $14 million, in 2023, according to a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission regulatory, released on Feb. 15.

“This increased allowance, together with the costs of Zuckerberg’s existing overall security program, are appropriate and necessary under the circumstances,” Meta said in the filing.

Zuckerberg Spends the Most on Protection Than Other CEOs in Big Tech

The CEO of Meta has faced scrutiny in the past for spending more on personal security than his peers in the big tech industry. The official security allowance also does not include additional expenses that the company may spend on Zuckerberg’s behalf.

The total security costs to cover Zuckerberg and his family exceeded $23 million in 2020 and $26.8 million in 2021, including the $10 million pretax protection allowance, reported Bloomberg

The difference in his approved allowance and overall costs is covered by the company under the category of “other compensation,” according to a separate financial disclosure to the SEC,

The 38-year-old co-founder of Facebook is the sixteenth richest person on the Forbes Billionaires List and his alleged net worth is estimated to be around $64 billion.

Meta said in its SEC filing that its CEO receives an annual salary of only $1 and does not receive any other compensation.

Meta to Cut Middle Managers and Streamline Operations to Boost Productivity

Meanwhile, Zuckerberg unveiled the “Year of Efficiency” plan at a quarterly earnings call on Feb. 1, in response to declining revenue from advertising, the failed launch of the metaverse, and increasing concern from investors.

“We’re working on flattening our organizational structure and removing some layers of middle management to make decisions faster, as well as deploying AI tools to help our engineers be more productive,” Zuckerberg said on the earnings call.

“There’s going to be some more that we can do to improve our productivity, speed, and cost structure.”

Meta plans to “flatten” its organizational structure as part of its efficiency plan by slashing the number of middle managers and using tools such as AI to increase productivity, said Zuckerberg.

Company managers and directors are being told to either transition to individual contributor jobs or leave the company, reported Bloomberg.

The Verge reported that Zuckerberg told company managers at a meeting that “I don’t think you want a management structure that’s just managers managing managers, managing managers, managing managers, managing the people who are doing the work.”

The second round of job cuts is expected in the coming weeks, Business Insider reported.

Meta further announced it was shuttering the “Live Shopping” feature on Instagram in another cost-cutting move.

The Financial Times also reported that the social media giant had delayed finalizing the budgets for several teams in preparation for the additional layoffs.

Reuters contributed to this report.