BYNEW YORK — He's one of the most famous and widely admired corporate leaders in the world. But it's the haters that companies like Mark Zuckerberg's Meta worry about.
Thompson had no personal security and appeared unaware of the shooter lurking before he was gunned down. Some of the biggest U.S. companies, particularly those in the tech sector, spend heavily on personal and residential security for their top executives. Cook is regularly accompanied by security personnel when he appears in public. Still, the company's $820,000 allotted last year to protect top executives is a fraction of what other tech giants spent for CEO security.
Some firms respond by beefing up security. For example, tech companies routinely require everyone attending a major event, such as Apple's annual unveiling of the next iPhone or a shareholder meeting, to go through airport-style security checkpoints before entering.