Amid Layoffs, Meta CEO Upped His Spending On Security, Private Jet Flights: Report

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp, paid CEO Mark Zuckerberg nearly $2.3 million in 2022 for his personal private jet travel. In the company's 2023 SEC filings, Meta said that Mr Zuckerberg, whose annual base salary is $1, was paid $27.1 million in so-called "all other compensation", including $14.8 million for what the firm called "costs related to personal security" at his homes and during his travels. 

In its filing, Meta stated that it had "identified specific threats to Mr Zuckerberg as a result of the high-profile nature of being our founder, CEO, Chair and controlling shareholder". "We believe that Mr. Zuckerberg's role puts him in a unique position: he is synonymous with Meta and, as a result, negative sentiment regarding our company is directly associated with, and often transferred to, Mr. Zuckerberg," it added. 

According to the New York Post, Mr Zuckerberg's private jet tab was $700,000 more than the $1.6 million Meta paid out in 2021 and the roughly $1.8 million in 2020. 

Speaking to the outlet, a Meta spokesperson explained, "Maintaining Mark's safety while enabling him to go about his life with minimal disruption requires comprehensive and sophisticated resources. Given the important role Mark plays at Meta, we have security measures in place for him that are in the best interest of the company". 

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Meanwhile, Mr Zuckerberg's high-flying budget follows reports of Meta's new round of job cuts. On Wednesday, the company carried out another round of layoffs, this time hitting engineers and adjacent tech teams. 

Notably, in March, Meta became the first Big Tech company to announce a second round of mass layoffs, which it said would take place in three main batches over several months and impact 10,000 employees. 

Meta's first round of layoffs in the fall hit more than 11,000 employees, or 13% of its workforce at the time, and preceded other major tech companies shedding thousands of employees after a pandemic-led boom in digital advertising and cloud computing.