Al Root

Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently suggested on his social media platform X that spending on his personal security would need to rise.

Unfortunately, the security of high-profile executives is an issue that investors should understand. Fortunately, many companies disclosed security expenses in annual proxy statements.

Tesla spent $2.8 million on Musk's security in 2024, according to the 2025 proxy statement. Tesla pays a company owned by Musk about $54,000 a week.

Before anyone questions the arrangement, they might want to check out what other companies do for their high-profile CEOs. It turns out that CEO security is an expense that many corporate boards regularly weigh, and Tesla's spending on Musk falls right in the middle of the Magnificent Seven: Alphabet, Amazon.com, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla.

Meta Platforms topped the list, spending $10.4 million in 2024 on security for CEO Mark Zuckerberg, according to its proxy statement.

Nvidia spent $3.5 million in 2024 on "security-related services" for Jensen Huang. Nvidia's proxy cites the "high profile of our CEO, and in accordance with the Board-approved, independently-assessed executive security program." It's tough to argue with that. Aside from Musk, Huang is just about the highest-profile CEO anyone can think of.

Security expenses for Amazon.com CEO Andy Jassy and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella were $1.1 million and $58,291, respectively. Nadella's amount relates to security for personal travel, according to Microsoft's proxy statement. Alphabet spent $8.3 million on CEO Sundar Pichai. Apple spent just under $800,000 on CEO Tim Cook.

That's about $27 million for the CEOs of the Magnificent Seven stocks. Investors can expect that amount to rise. Tesla also disclosed an additional $500,000 spent in January and February of 2025, or about $63,000 a week, up from the average amount spent in 2024.

Still, the most recently reported annual amounts for Mag-7 CEO security work out to about 0.0001% of their combined market values. That's an expense investors are likely willing to accept.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com

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September 14, 2025 14:09 ET (18:09 GMT)

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