Search for man who shot health boss in New York now ‘multi-state’, say police – latest

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from Washington

We still don’t have a motive in the killing of Brian Thompson in Manhattan – but his death has starkly highlighted the issue of personal executive protection for top CEOs.

Each year, top US companies spend millions of dollars on personal security to their highest-level executives, often disclosing them in their corporate filings.

Warner Bros. filings, for example, show that $705,000 was spent to protect CEO David Zaslav at his residence and while traveling, as well as another $768,000 for his use of a private aircraft.

Meta, for its part, spent more than $30.8m on security for senior executives and directors last year, including $23.4m for Mark Zuckerberg alone.

As CEO of UnitedHealthCare, however, Thompson was moving in New York without any protective detail, despite reports that he and other company executives had faced threats in the past.

His death has sparked new calls for more to be done to protect executives in the healthcare industry, which has faced rising threats amid the Covid-19 pandemic and disappointment with insurance coverage.