UnitedHealthcare CEO’s killing shows why companies spend millions to protect their top executives

By Chris Isidore, CNN

New York (CNN) — UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson had an in-house security detail assigned to him during his trip to New York City, according to a source familiar with the company’s security, but the detail wasn’t with him when he was shot and killed in front of a hotel early Wednesday morning.

It’s common for top executives of major corporations to have personal security provided by their companies. Those measures are often significant expenses listed in corporate filings, though UnitedHealth Group, UnitedHealthcare’s corporate parent, doesn’t break out the cost in its own filings.

The need to protect the safety of top officers and the cost of doing so has risen over the years, particularly for those high-profile executives whose businesses often generate controversy or criticism, such as health care. Most companies list the risk of the loss of their top executive, through death or other less dramatic departure, as a risk factor for investors to consider.

Multiple major healthcare providers began increasing personal protection around top executives Wednesday following the shooting, security industry sources told CNN’s chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller.

While UnitedHealthcare, as one of the nation’s largest health insurers, is well known, Thompson could hardly have been considered high profile before his killing. Still a source with knowledge of the investigation told CNN there were concerning threats against UnitedHealth Group and that the company was aware of these threats.

Thompson’s name was not specifically mentioned, but the threats discussed going after high-level executives at the company.

The victim’s wife told NBC “there had been some threats…I don’t know, a lack of coverage? I don’t know details. I just know that he said there were some people that had been threatening him.”

Law enforcement sources told CNN that two words were found on bullet casings at the scene: “Delay” and “depose.” Depose was written on a shell casing from a round that was fired into the victim. Delay was written on a live round that was not fired but ejected, apparently when the shooter was clearing a jam. There is a popular phrase about the insurance industry — delay, deny, defend — and police are exploring whether these two words point to a motive.

Across social media and in other posts on the internet Wednesday many individuals expressed a lack of regret over Thompson’s killing. Some suggested UnitedHealthcare and all insurers were responsible for many deaths in denying coverage for life-saving medical treatment. Some posted laughing emojis to the news.

“This event really underscores the rising threat that chief executive officers of organizations, heads of companies, are facing right now,” former Secret Service agent and expert Jonathan Wackrow told Anderson Cooper on CNN Wednesday night. “The threats that are facing corporate leaders today are significant. They are the face of the organization.”

“The threat spectrum is pretty broad when you think about internal issues such as disgruntled employees, workplace violence,” Wackrow said. “And then they’re faced with criticism from the outside because of products or services that they make.”

A spokesperson for UnitedHealth declined to provide details about security related to Thompson or why the security team wasn’t with him Wednesday morning. But a former senior security director at another major insurance company told CNN that it can often be difficult to get executives to accept security, even when there are threats.

“We had a robust executive protection team,” he said. “We had many threats from disgruntled members dissatisfied with their coverage, particularly those whose prescriptions…expired and would not be refilled. This shooting may have been random, but there could certainly have been someone who had motivation. It is often difficult to rein in CEOs who expect freedom to act on their own without a protective detail following them around everywhere.”

Security measures can cost millions

Perhaps the highest profile and most controversial CEO in America today is Elon Musk, who heads several companies. Tesla, his one publicly traded company that files financial reports, reported that it spent $2.4 million on his security in 2023 and another $500,000 in just the first two months of this year. The money was paid to a security company owned by Musk himself.

Musk has written about threats he faces on his social media platform X. “Dangerous times ahead. Two people (separate occasions) have already tried to kill me in the past 8 months. They were arrested with guns about 20 mins drive from Tesla HQ in Texas,” he posted in July.

Other companies have disclosed significant spending on the safety and security for top executives as well. Many list the cost of private jet travel or drivers as part of that cost, but those measures can be as much for convenience, time management and privacy as much as for security. While all US air travel is among the safest way to travel, commercial jets actually have a better safety record than corporate jets.

Artificial intelligence chipmaker Nvidia, one of the most valuable companies on the planet, spent $2.2 million in 2023 for residential security and consultation fees, security monitoring services and car and driver services for its CEO, Jen-Hsun Huang. Apple spent $820,000 on private security for CEO Tim Cook, and twice that amount on his personal air travel on the company’s private jet. Alphabet paid $6.8 million for personal security of CEO Sundar Pichai.

And Facebook owner Meta Platforms spent $9.4 for personal security for CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg’s personal security, who also receives an annual pre-tax allowance of $14 million to cover security for his family.

Many companies, including UnitedHealth Group, have policies in which their CEOs are either required or encouraged to use corporate jets for personal travel, at company expense, stating that is a security measure.

Corporate filings show that 138 out of the 500 companies in the S&P report the amount they spend on security for their CEOs, according to research firm Equilar, which tracks information on executive compensation. The median amount those companies spent in 2023 was $98,000, meaning half of them spent more than that, and half of them less. But that median amount more than doubled in just two years, from the $47,600 spent in 2021.

While six-figure costs are common, major companies typically report less costly security than the millions that many of the high-profile tech companies report, according to filings.

For example, Warner Bros. Discovery, owner of CNN, spent $705,000 on security for CEO David Zaslav at his residences and during personal travel. That includes a one-time expense of about $389,000 for the installation of certain security equipment at his residences. It also spent $768,000 for his use of corporate aircraft for personal travel.

JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s largest bank, spent $151,000 for the cost of residential, personal travel, and related security for Dimon, as well as $362,000 in incremental costs for his use of corporate jets for personal travel.

CNN’s Josh Campbell, Meg Tirrell, John Miller and Nathaniel Meyersohn contributed to this story

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This story has been updated with additional content.