Facebook Inc’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s compensation jumped 53.5 percent to $8.9 million last year mainly due to higher expenses associated to his personal security, according to a regulatory filing disclosed on Friday. Nearly 83 percent of the compensation accounted for security-related costs, while the remaining were linked to the 33-year old billionaire’s personal usage of private jet, as Zuckerberg spent much of 2017 traveling after he vowed to visit all the U.S states that he never visited before.
Costs related to Zuckerberg’s personal security jumped to $7.3 million in 2017, significantly higher from $4.9 million in the prior year. The filing showed that Facebook spent money on purchase, installation and maintenance of security systems in Zuckerberg’s personal residences located in Palo Alto and San Francisco.
The Menlo Park, California-based company board’s compensation committee approved Zuckerberg’s security program to address safety concerns because of his position as founder and CEO of the world’s largest social network.
Zuckerberg salary is still $1 as it has been since the company went public in 2012. He holds 401.5 million shares of Facebook stock as of March 31. His total voting power at Facebook slightly rose to 59.9 percent. Earlier this year, he sold $357 million worth of Facebook stock to support his philanthropic organization named the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
Facebook has been amazing investors and analysts by reporting strong financial results over the past couple of years. The company recently faced heavy criticism over its role in influencing U.S. presidential election held in 2016.
Earlier this week, Zuckerberg faced hours of questioning from U.S. policymakers on how the personal data of hundreds and thousands of Facebook users was inadequately shared with a British political consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica.
Facebook shares closed higher on Friday following Zuckerberg’s comments that he hasn’t observe any obvious change in users behaviour after Cambridge Analytica scandal.
