{"id":87277,"date":"2025-08-06T01:11:04","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T01:11:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=87277"},"modified":"2025-08-06T01:11:04","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T01:11:04","slug":"us-companies-spending-record-amounts-to-protect-executives-as-threats-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=87277","title":{"rendered":"US companies spending record amounts to protect executives as threats rise"},"content":{"rendered":"
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U.S. companies are spending record amounts to keep their executives safe in response to rising threats and the killings of two high-profile corporate officials in separate attacks in Manhattan over the last eight months.<\/p>\n

Corporations have doubled the number of plain-clothed security teams outside buildings in New York City since a\u00a0shooting last week<\/a>\u00a0in which four people were killed, said Glen Kucera, president of the enhanced protection services unit at Allied Universal, a security and facilities services firm.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unspeakable. I never knew anyone who was murdered,\u201d said Rich Friedman, chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, who previously worked with one of the victims, Blackstone executive\u00a0Wesley LePatner<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Her death shook Wall Street, even though authorities believe her killing was a random event. Police said the shooter was\u00a0targeting the headquarters<\/a>\u00a0of the National Football League, which is housed in the same building in the Midtown area of Manhattan where LePatner worked. <\/p>\n

The shooter also killed a New York City police officer, a building security guard and an employee at real estate company Rudin before turning the gun on himself.<\/p>\n

The attack was \u201cshocking and hits very close to home,\u201d Citigroup spokesperson Ed Skyler said in a note to employees a day after the July 28 killings in Midtown. <\/p>\n

\u201cUnderstandably, yesterday has also left many of us feeling uneasy,\u201d he said, assuring employees that the bank has beefed up security at its Manhattan headquarters over the last year.<\/p>\n

Threats against executives \u201chave massively ramped up since 2020,\u201d said Chris Pierson, the CEO of cybersecurity firm BlackCloak. He noted how the man charged with murdering a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband near Minneapolis in June allegedly kept\u00a0a target list<\/a>\u00a0of mostly other politicians and used online people-search services to find their addresses.<\/p>\n

Ben Joelson, head of security risk and resilience for the Chertoff Group, a security advisory firm, said threats against executives are higher than at any time in the decade he has worked in the field, with social media posts magnifying complaints against institutional leaders. Artificial intelligence is compounding the problem, leading to an \u201cexponential rise\u201d in realistic phishing attempts, Joelson was cited as saying in a report by research firm Equilar.<\/p>\n

When UnitedHealthcare CEO\u00a0Brian Thompson<\/a>\u00a0was shot to death in New York in December, it seemed to be a very rare \u201cblack swan event,\u201d Joelson told Reuters in an interview. <\/p>\n

But targeted attacks have continued, including the killings in Minnesota and the shooting deaths of\u00a0two employees<\/a>\u00a0of the Israeli embassy in Washington in May. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s increasingly acceptable for some bad actors or adversaries to address grievances through violence,\u201d which has led many companies to put a new focus on security, Joelson said.<\/p>\n

Matthew Dumpert, global leader of enterprise security risk management at financial and risk advisory firm Kroll, said a lot of existing and new clients reached out last week following the deadly attack in Midtown.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeveral of the outreaches directly to me have been by the executive committees \u2026 whoever owns risk. It\u2019s chief legal officers, admin officers, compliance officers, security officers,\u201d Dumpert said. <\/p>\n

He added that several clients that had emergency response projects slated to start later this year have asked him to \u201cput those on the front burner. Start immediately, and let\u2019s move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018TREND IS UNSURPRISING\u2019<\/h2>\n

Median spending on executive security for top officers, including chief executives, chief financial officers and others, rose 16% to a record $106,530 last year, according to new data from Equilar, which reviewed financial filings for the 500 largest U.S. public companies by revenue.<\/p>\n

Security spending includes surveillance and alarm systems for executives\u2019 homes, personal guards and cybersecurity protections. Equilar analysts said the trend is likely to continue as firms grapple with the growing threats to their executives and employees.<\/p>\n

The percentage of executives at those companies with such protection rose to 33.8% from 23.3% over the 2020-2024 period, Equilar said. <\/p>\n

Nearly a third of CEOs in the group, 32.4%, received security services last year, up from 21.9% in 2020; the value of those CEOs\u2019 security perks reached a median $77,976 last year, up from $40,052 in 2020.<\/p>\n

Tech companies experienced the largest growth in implementing security measures for executives, with a 73.5% increase in those receiving benefits from 2020 to 2024. However, communications companies spent the most, at a median value of $1.2 million per year, according to Equilar.<\/p>\n

Blue-chip companies such as Walmart, General Motors, American Express and chipmaker Broadcom<\/span> previously disclosed\u00a0new or increased security expenses<\/a>\u00a0from previous years following Thompson\u2019s killing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe trend is unsurprising considering the broader concerns about executive safety amid geopolitical instability, increasing cyber threats and the high public visibility of top leadership roles,\u201d Equilar said in its report.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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