Security costs for Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg are set to rise this year despite the huge layoffs that just hit Meta Platforms, the Facebook and Instagram parent company that he leads.
A regulatory filing this week showed that a pretax allowance for the personal security of Zuckerberg and his family has increased to $14 million after hovering at $10 million in recent years, Bloomberg reported. Zuckerberg’s security expenses have typically ballooned to more than $20 million once additional costs are included, like the use of a private aircraft, according to a previous filing.
Those costs are now going up soon after Meta declared 2023 to be “the Year of Efficiency,’” following the firing of about 13 percent of its global workforce, a total of 11,000 employees. Anonymous sources are now saying another round of layoffs is planned, as reported by TechCrunch.
In a press release, Meta said that in 2023 it would be “focused on becoming a stronger and more nimble organization.”
Zuckerberg first received his $10 million security allowance after a 2018 shooting at the YouTube headquarters in Silicon Valley, Forbes reported. His other security expenses had already increased more than 500 percent from 2012 to 2017, according to Forbes.
Other tech giants have also recently laid off thousands of employees. Amazon cut more than 18,000 jobs last month, and at least half of Twitter’s more-than-7,000-strong workforce was either fired or resigned after new CEO Elon Musk took over, as reported by the Los Angeles Times.
Meta’s cuts have come as the company attempts to pivot toward focusing on “metaverse” virtual reality projects that have yet to turn a profit. The company also saw itself as having over-hired during the pandemic and felt overextended in a broader economic downtown, as reported by the Guardian.
The recent filing noted that Zuckerberg’s annual salary is $1, with no additional compensation, Bloomberg reported.
