Mark Zuckerberg spends more on security despite ‘year of efficiency’

Mark Zuckerberg

Meta Platforms Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg has dubbed 2023 the “year of efficiency,” a signal the social networking company plans to reduce spending and increase speed, but costs are going up in at least one area: his personal security.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is increasing its pretax spending on Zuckerberg’s personal security to $14 million in 2023, up from $10 million the last few years, according to a regulatory filing released Wednesday.

This payment doesn’t include other security expenses the company will accrue on Zuckerberg’s behalf. The CEO has faced scrutiny in the past for spending more on security than comparable technology executives. In 2021, for example, the social media giant spent more than $26.8 million on security-related expenses for Zuckerberg and his family, including the $10 million pretax allowance.

But the security payment comes at a time when Meta and Zuckerberg have tried to temper spending in other areas, including through broad-scale job cuts late last year. In response to slowing revenue from advertising, costly bets on the metaverse and increased investor scrutiny, Zuckerberg unveiled the “Year of Efficiency” label during Meta’s most-recent earnings call earlier this month. As part of that plan, Meta plans to “flatten” its organizational structure by removing middle managers and using tools such as AI to increase productivity. In it most recent cost-cutting move, the company announced it was shuttering the ‘Live Shopping’ feature on Instagram.

In the filing Wednesday, Meta noted that Zuckerberg receives an annual salary of $1 and doesn’t receive any other compensation.