Facebook paid over $8.8 million for Mark Zuckerberg's security and travel last year
Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook salary may only be $1, but don't think that is all the Facebook co-founder receives in benefits from the social network he helped create.
In a proxy statement released Friday ahead of Facebook's annual shareholder meeting next month, the company disclosed that it paid $8.8 million to cover Zuckerberg's security and personal travel last year.
The figure rose from $5.8 million in 2016 as Zuckerberg toured across the country last year.
"Because of the high visibility of our company, our compensation & governance committee has authorized an "overall security program" for Mr. Zuckerberg 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," the company writes in its disclosure.
"We require these security measures for the company's benefit because of the importance of Mr. Zuckerberg to Facebook, and we believe that the costs of this overall security program are appropriate and necessary."
With all the extra travel Zuckerberg may do to answer to various governments for his company's role in the recent Cambridge Analytica data scandal, that expense isn't likely to shrink.
In addition to paying for Zuckerberg's security the company also spent over $2.6 million to cover the security fees of COO Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's second-in-command.
While not surprising, the disclosure yet again highlights the "other perks" CEOs of tech giants receive.
Apple similarly pays for CEO Tim Cook's security and use of private aircraft for all of his travels, totals that amounted to $317,325 in 2017 according to documents it filed with SEC late last year. Unlike Zuckerberg, Cook did receive a salary of $3 million last year.
In its most recent filing from last April, Amazon revealed that it paid $1.6 million for CEO and founder Jeff Bezos' travel in 2016. Bezos also received a salary of $81,840.
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