Bulletproof panels, private jets, and rumored secret passages: Here's what it costs to protect the world's richest tech moguls

Schmidt stepped down as Google chairman in 2018, and the previous year the company spent just under $300,000 on Schmidt's personal security. Forbes currently puts Schmidt's net worth at $13.2 billion.

Source: Forbes

Apple spent $310,000 on CEO Tim Cook in 2018, according to a proxy statement filed in January of this year. By Silicon Valley standards, this is a very humble expenditure — especially considering Apple regularly dips in and out of being the world's most valuable company.

Source: Wired

Google spent $1.2 million on security CEO Sundar Pichai in 2018, almost double the previous year when he was handed $680,000 for personal protection.

Source: Business Insider

Pichai's new "overall security program" was approved in July 2018, three months after Nasim Najafi Aghdam shot three people and then herself at YouTube HQ in San Bruno. Following the attack, YouTube announced that it was stepping up its security in general.

A Google spokesperson told Business Insider's Nick Bastone that stepping up Pichai's security was part of a more general trend — Pichai's security cost also doubled between 2016 and 2017.

Source: Business Insider

The world's richest man doesn't spend the most on security — at least not publicly. Forbes reports that the amount Amazon shells out for Bezos' security hasn't changed since 2012 despite the billionaire's wealth growing by approximately $113 billion. An Amazon spokesperson said Bezos pays separately for his personal security.

Source: Forbes

A Seattle city planning permit, spotted by the Daily Beast, showed that Amazon applied to install bulletproof panels in Bezos' office in November 2018, and was granted permission in January. The panels cost $180,000 to install and can withstand multiple shots from a military assault rifle.

Source: The Daily Beast

After Jeff Bezos' intimate texts to former TV anchor Lauren Sanchez were leaked to The National Enquirer, Bezos hired his personal security chief Gavin de Becker to investigate the source of the leak.

Writing in The Daily Beast in March, de Becker said Bezos told him to "spend whatever is needed" to get to the root of how his texts were obtained by The Enquirer.

De Becker's investigation concluded, "with high confidence" that Saudi Arabia was behind the leak, due to Bezos' ownership of The Washington Post and the paper's coverage of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Source: The Daily Beast

Oracle pays the annual costs of protecting CTO and cofounder Larry Ellison's "primary residence," which Forbes speculated is likely to be his Japanese-architecture-inspired Woodside estate in California, although the company declined to comment.

Source: Wired and Forbes

Uber's recent IPO filing revealed that CEO Dara Khosrowshahi's compensation included $2 million for "security costs," roughly equivalent to his bonus.

Sandberg's security costs climbed by $200,000 in 2018, and Facebook spent $1 million on private aircraft travel for the COO.

Source: Business Insider

Zuckerberg's security costs skyrocketed in tandem with the company's disastrous 2018.

Facebook spent $10 million on personal protection for Zuckerberg last year, up $2.5 million from the year before. He was also given a "pre-tax allowance" of $10 million for "additional costs" to do with keeping both himself and his family safe.

In an SEC filing, the company said that public rage directed towards Facebook was part of the reason for Zuckerberg's high security spend.

"He is synonymous with Facebook, and as a result, negative sentiment regarding our company is directly associated with, and often transferred to, Mr. Zuckerberg," Facebook said.

Source: Business Insider

Business Insider's Rob Price published a 5,000-word investigation into Facebook's security operations, and discovered that Zuckerberg is constantly protected by armed executive protection officers who stand guard outside his Bay Area homes — at least one of which is equipped with a panic room.

Source: Business Insider

Price discovered a popular rumor among Facebook employees is that Zuckerberg has a "panic chute" in case him and his team need to evacuate the offices. One source told Price they had been briefed on the passageway's existence. Facebook declined to comment.

Source: Business Insider

One of the most bombastic and divisive personalities to dominate Silicon Valley, Elon Musk's security costs are not readily available.

Tesla declined to comment when contacted by Business Insider.

Specifically, Musk said that he needed, "a knight to yell insults at people in a French accent."

Source: Business Insider

The last time Google disclosed security costs for its cofounders was in 2006, when it gave Larry Page $33,195 for transportation, logistics, and personal security. Page is now CEO at Google's parent company Alphabet, which also hasn't disclosed security expenditure for him.

Source: Forbes