Meta paid its CEO Mark Zuckerberg only $1 a year as a base salary.

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, got a lot of attention when it came out that his legal pay for 2023 was only $1. This may seem surprisingly low, but when you look at his whole pay plan, things look different. While Zuckerberg only got a small starting pay, he made a total of $24.4 million over the year.

A big chunk of this pay went to help pay for security costs. A company called Meta put about $14 million into making sure Zuckerberg was safe. This includes the cost of security guards, high-tech security systems for his homes and offices, and safety steps for public appearances and travel. Because Zuckerberg’s job is so public and comes with risks, it makes sense for him to put so much money into protection.

As part of Zuckerberg’s pay, he got to use private planes for personal reasons, which added up to almost $1 million. This amount covers the costs of buying or renting private planes, which gives Zuckerberg safe and flexible travel options, taking into account the threats he may face because of his fame and connection to Meta.

Even though Zuckerberg’s base pay seems cheap, most of his huge wealth comes from owning a piece of Meta, the company that runs Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. His net worth is an amazing $158.7 billion as of April 26, making him one of the richest people in the world. This makes it clear that Zuckerberg’s financial goals are much more closely linked to the success and value of Meta than to his pay.

Zuckerberg’s choice to take a small salary of $1 is common among tech CEOs. Notable people in the field, like Elon Musk, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and even Steve Jobs, have chosen symbolic pay in the past. This shows that they care more about the success of the company than their pay, and it also shows that they have faith in the long-term chances of their own companies.

Even though Zuckerberg doesn’t make a lot of money, Meta has done very well financially. The company made an amazing $134.9 billion in sales last year, thanks to the huge success of its services, which have billions of users all over the world. The fact that Meta’s share price has gone up by over 43% year-to-date shows that investors are optimistic about the company’s future.

There are hard times and costs that come with running a big tech company like Meta. Making sure that important leaders like Zuckerberg are safe and secure is very important, which means spending a lot of money on security measures. Even though Zuckerberg’s base pay may not seem like much, it takes into account the unique duties and responsibilities that come with being the leader of Meta.