By Medha Singh and Mariam Sunny
(Reuters) -U.S. corporations have been ramping up their security spending, but following the murder of UnitedHealth executive Brian Thompson that expenditure is set to rise further in 2025 as more companies see heightened threats to their top brass.
At least a dozen S&P 500 companies have flagged an increase in security risks, a Reuters analysis of the proxy statements – or annual disclosures to shareholders – showed.
Blue-chip companies such as Walmart, General Motors, American Express and chipmaker Broadcom have disclosed new or increased security expenses from previous years.
“The number of customers requiring assessments and executive protection has increased 10 to 15 times the number prior to December 4,” said Glen Kucera, president at security services firm Allied Universal, which serves more than 80% of Fortune 500 companies.
UnitedHealth spent $1.7 million on security for its top executives in 2024, the first time it disclosed the detail in its proxy statement on April 21.
Its insurance unit CEO, Thompson, was shot dead on December 4 in a targeted attack in New York that raised fears among executives over threats to their safety.
UnitedHealth rival Elevance Health cited an “enhanced security risk environment” to raise security benefits, while Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, and pharmacy chain Walgreens reported additional expenses.
Of the 208 S&P 500 companies that have filed their annual proxy statement for fiscal 2024, about 31.3% of them granted a security perk to at least one of their named executive officers, according to Equilar, an executive compensation research firm.
That expense rose to a median of $94,276, up from $69,180 in 2023, based on disclosures from roughly a quarter of the companies. In 2022, when 23.1% of companies reported security spending, the median was $40,917, Equilar told Reuters.
Because Thompson’s murder took place late in the year, compensation experts said proxy statements for 2025 will likely show an even greater increase in security spending.
“We anticipate that security-related costs and perquisites will likely increase in terms of the amount of imputed income that’s disclosed in proxies but also the prevalence,” said David Kokell, head of U.S. compensation research at Institutional Shareholder Services.
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CEOs and other prominent executives can become lightning rods for anger directed toward broader organizations, leading to more spending on security, even though it is still a small fraction of a company’s annual business expenses.
General Motors said increased security would be offered to CEO Mary Barra and President Mark Reuss after a recent assessment.
Broadcom spent $1.37 billion on CEO Hock Tan’s security in 2024 but did not give the number for prior years, while credit card giant American Express’ spending on security perks more than doubled from 2023 and is expected to increase in 2025.
Other companies that boosted protection include utility companies Edison International and CenterPoint Energy, as well as Warner Bros Discovery.
A vast majority of companies do not outline their security costs. Only 18% of S&P 500 and 5% of Russell 3000 companies disclosed personal and home security as a CEO compensation perquisite, according to 2024 data from The Conference Board.
A full picture of the increase in spending will only emerge by September when more companies file their reports or next year, analysts said.
Companies are also expanding the security cover to more executives and public events, experts said in the aftermath of Thompson’s murder, which took place outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel where UnitedHealth was holding an investor conference.
The scope “has actually expanded”, John Gainer, vice president at security firm TorchStone Global, said. “It starts with the CEO, then the C-suite, and now increasingly includes the board—especially when it comes to public-facing events like board or shareholder meetings.”
(Reporting by Medha Singh, Mariam Sunny, Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Akash Sriram; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
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