According to a “Financial Times” survey, the big tech bosses now devote colossal sums to their personal security. From Zuckerberg to Musk via Bezos or Jensen Huang, their budgets exploded in the face of death threats, intrusions and growing hostility from the public.
Large boss, a risky job? In any case, this is what interested parties who made their security expenses think last year. Physically threatened, sometimes of murder and noting increasing hostility from the public, the richest personalities in the world are now living under high protection.
According to a survey by the “Financial Times”, budgets devoted to the personal security of the major tech patterns exceeded $ 45 million in 2024, upstairs compared to previous years.
Mark Zuckerberg remains the undisputed champion. Meta paid more than $ 27 million last year to protect her boss and family, whether in their residences or when traveling. The figure is constantly increasing: it reached 24 million in 2023. The difference with other leaders is due to the fact that the group also takes care of the safety of its relatives, which considerably increases the bill.
At Nvidia, the world leader in graphics cards, the outbreak is just as notable. Jensen Huang, whose fortune now exceeds $ 150 billion thanks to the boom in artificial intelligence, saw its security budget increase from $ 2.2 to 3.5 million in a year. Its media exposure and proximity to the White House in the Chinese semiconductors’ file made it a more visible target.
Alex Karp, the boss of Palantir lives permanently escorted. His company, specializing in data analysis and partner of Western armies, regularly attracts threats. According to the FT, he has already been the target of death threats linked to his military contracts. He is permanently accompanied by four bodyguards.
A growing growl from the public against the big bosses
Elon Musk has crossed another course. After admitting that he was targeted by two attempts to murder in 2024, he formed his own protective company, Foundation Security. The richest man in the world sometimes moves with around twenty agents. Tesla officially declared $ 500,000 in spending in 2024, but this figure would only cover a small part of the real costs, its other companies publishing any details.
Jeff Bezos also remains a sensitive figure. Amazon has been funding around 1.6 million dollars in annual protection for its founder since 2010. The group had even installed in 2019 bulletproof panels of almost 4 centimeters in its Seattle headquarters. His successor, Andy Jassy, is also entitled to enhanced security, quantified at more than a million dollars.
These spectacular figures reflect new concern. The assassination of Brian Thompson, boss of United Healthcare, in New York at the end of 2024, marked a turning point. In particular by the sympathy of a large part of the public opinion for Luigi Mangione, the murderer with the face of an angel. Several experts cited by the “FT” underline that the threat no longer comes only from dissatisfied employees, but from a diffuse hostility, which aims for the bosses as symbols of a triumphant capitalism.
“I have never seen such intensity in the threat,” said James Hamilton, former FBI agent and founder of a private protection company. Specialized firms claim that risk assessment requests exploded in the first half of 2025, especially in Europe and the United States. Kidnapping attempts, intrusions in homes, vocal deepfakes to extract money: the spectrum of threats widens. In France, cryptocurrency investors have become a privileged target of kidnappers.
