The CEO of UnitedHealthcare was shot this morning in Manhattan. Brian Thompson, 50, was confronted outside the Hilton Hotel in Midtown and later pronounced dead at Mount Sinai West Hospital.
Police say the killing was a targeted attack and not a random act of violence. New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch called the shooting a “premeditated, pre-planned, targeted attack.” The shooter was captured on camera and last seen in Central Park. They have not been arrested. The motive for the killing is unknown, but Thompson’s wife told NBC News that “there were some people who threatened him.”
Thompson was executive vice president at UnitedHealth Group and CEO of the UnitedHealthcare division, a role he was appointed to in 2021, while Andrew Witty is CEO of UnitedHealth Group. Thompson’s killing comes as companies are increasingly concerned about the safety of their top executives, and it could confirm corporate America’s worst fears. More acutely, the targeting of a high-profile executive raises new questions about whether personal security, corporate jet travel and trained defensive drivers should extend to roles beyond the CEO.
“We don’t know the motivation. Certainly, if it’s a personal motivation, that changes the landscape a little bit,” said Glen Kucera, president of enhanced protective services at Allied Universal, a security services company. Fortune. “If it was motivated by the business they’re in, healthcare, or something related to that, then that’s certainly a wake-up call for a lot of CEOs and executives traveling around the country and the world.”
Increased investment in executive security
Large companies appear to be increasingly aware of the security risks for their top executives.
In a study of CEO benefits from 2020 to 2023, consulting firm ISS-Corporate found that home security benefits for CEOs of S&P 500 companies rose from 12.6% in 2020 to 15.7% in 2023. And the prevalence of personal and home security benefits among S&P 500 companies have been steadily on the rise since 2018, data from Esgauge shows. In 2018, only 13.2% of CEOs had these benefits, compared to 17.9% in 2024.
However, the trend to increase safety is much less pronounced among healthcare companies. In fact, among Russell 3000 healthcare companies, personal security costs have fallen from 0.8% in 2018 to 0.5% in 2024, Esgauge data shows. And the average value of security for CEOs overall was about $50,000 in 2023, according to WTW, an insurance broker and risk management company.
However, some of the world’s most prominent executives are costing their companies millions per year in protection services. The richest man in the world, Elon Musk, now travels with up to twenty security guards New York Times reported. According to SEC filings, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai’s personal security costs about $6.8 million a year. And Meta Platforms increased security spending for Mark Zuckerberg from $10 million to $14 million annually in February 2023, according to public filings.
“We believe that Mr. Zuckerberg’s role puts him in a unique position: he is synonymous with Meta, and as a result, negative sentiment about our company is directly associated with, and often transferred to, Mr. Zuckerberg,” it wrote company last. years of disclosures.
“When you’re talking about someone who’s worth millions or billions of dollars, and he or she is in charge of an entire company, there’s a real possibility of kidnapping, there’s a real possibility of extortion, there’s a real possibility of attempts on their lives,” Bill Herzog, CEO of Arizona-based LionHeart Security Services, previously said Fortune on executive security.
However, most of the security focus was at the level of the CEO and chairman, rather than at the level of other appointed executive officers. At UnitedHealth Group, the company requires CEO Andrew Witty to fly on a corporate jet for all business trips and encourages him to fly for personal and family travel. Based on the company’s most recent disclosures, Witty did not use the aircraft for personal travel in 2023. But the company has not disclosed other personal safety benefits for executives, including Thompson.
Cardinal Health spent $445,732 on corporate jet travel, home security and monitoring and liability for CEO Jason Hollar. According to the company’s 2024 proxy statement, the company did not disclose the same benefits for other top executives.
Other companies have taken a tougher stance. Meta approved new personal security services for the entire board in January and February 2021, given the level of oversight at the company and the “charged atmosphere following the 2020 U.S. elections and the attack on the U.S. Capitol,” Meta told investors. It also announced that it is providing personal security to other executives in response to specific threats.
“No one ever goes to work expecting this to happen to them, right? That’s why it’s so important to be informed. Be aware of your surroundings. Have good security protocol in place in case this does happen,” says Kucera. “You have to be prepared.”
This story originally appeared on Fortune.com
