Mark Zuckerberg at UFC 300 at T-Mobile Arena on April 13, 2024, in Las Vegas (Jeff Bottari/Getty Images)

Weird Money

Security spending on company CEOs is poised to skyrocket

We’ll probably see a big uptick in companies following Meta’s lead on paying for executive security in 2025.

12/10/24 2:22PM

The biggest story of December has been the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. I’m not going to comment on the ongoing investigation, but in the wake of the shooting, The Wall Street Journal published an interesting piece on company spend on executive security outside of work, citing a report from executive-intelligence provider Equilar.

The report says that 27.6% of S&P 500 companies provided security for at least one top executive, up from 23.5% in 2021, and median spending doubled to almost $100,000. (Note: these figures don’t include security spend that occurs in offices or on work travel, as those are considered normal business expenses.) Within that 27.6%, there are some strong outliers.

Meta spent $24.39 million, more than triple the next highest spender, Alphabet, which came in at $6.78 million. UnitedHealthcare, notably, didn’t have any listed costs in 2023. But after that recent shooting, security spend is poised for an uptick:

“Dozens of security chiefs from large U.S. companies met on a call Wednesday to discuss security protocols. One security adviser, Global Guardian CEO Dale Buckner, said he fielded calls from companies looking to send armed guards to accompany executives attending conferences in New York and other U.S. cities this week.”

Given risks posed by the internet, that increase in security spend is probably overdue. The internet has introduced two risk factors for known figures:

It’s much, much easier to find someone’s personal information, such as where they live, what their travel itinerary might be for work events, etc.
Social media is a catalyst for unrest, as it facilitates frictionless communication between individuals with similar gripes.

At any given time, any number of people can be upset about any number of things, including the climate crisis, health insurance, poorly timed layoffs, and politics. Executives of companies deemed to be tied to one of these issues often become targets of this angst, social media allows for the creation of echo chambers of like-minded individuals who share that angst, personal information on these individuals is more accessible than it was pre-internet, and it takes only one person to create a tragedy.

Given that every company in the S&P 500 is worth at least $6 billion, I’m surprised that just ~27% of companies so far have paid for additional security for company executives. I imagine that next quarter’s earnings season will show several companies adding a new line-item expense for “personal security.”

Max Knoblauch17h

The Trump administration is reportedly planning a 50% made-in-America requirement for USMCA tariff relief

Qualifying for USMCA-related lower tariffs may soon require more US-made vehicle components, according to reporting by The Wall Street Journal.

The Trump administration is reportedly planning to introduce a 50% US content requirement for vehicles covered by the trade pact to receive lower tariffs. The content would be measured by cost, according to the WSJ.

There currently isn’t any US-specific requirement for those lower tariff rates, but in order to receive preferential tariffs, vehicles are must contain at least 75% regional content (components made in North America). Per Reuters reporting, the Trump admin is seeking to raise the regional requirement to 82%.

These reported plans are subject to change as the US negotiates USMCA terms with Mexico over the next few months.

Overall, Tesla will likely have the easiest time qualifying for any stricter requirements. The automaker’s vehicles contained the highest amount of US/Canadian content in 2025, according to American University research. Ford, GM, and Stellantis all scored lower.

Notably: the underlying government data that many domestic content measurements rely on intentionally combines US and Canadian components, so it’s difficult to know exactly how much of any given vehicle is specifically US-made.

Exclusive | Trump Administration Wants Autos Under USMCA to Be at Least 50% Made in America

These reported plans are subject to change as the US negotiates USMCA terms with Mexico over the next few months.

Tom Jones23h

The $640,000 Luce makes the average Ferrari look like a bargain

Put aside the shape; put aside the smoothing out of Ferrari’s iconic sharp edges; put aside, even, the calls from former Chairman and President Luca Cordero di Montezemolo to “take the Prancing Horse off.” On the grounds of price alone, Luce detractors might have a point.

By now, many of us will have read the criticisms of Ferrari’s first fully electric vehicle, as the Luce — which was unveiled to the world earlier this week and promptly saw the company’s shares crash out in New York and Milan — gets subtly shaded by competitors online and not-so-subtly shaded by basically everyone else.

What makes all of this worse for Ferrari is that, even by the luxury car maker’s notoriously high standards, they’ve slapped a pretty hefty price tag on the Luce, and the company’s CEO, Benedetto Vigna, has already been forced to defend the €550,000 ($640,000) price point, saying yesterday that it’s “fair to pay for innovation,” per Reuters.

While Ferrari’s cars have been getting more expensive of late, as recently as 2022, Ferrari’s average revenue per car sold was around $340,000. At nearly twice that price, this new electric model is obviously proving a little much (visually, conceptually, and financially) for many loyal and long-standing fans of the Prancing Horse to stomach.