Inside the $600 Million World of Executive Perks: Private Ranches, Security and Free Booze Last Year

Corporate perks for top executives are climbing sharply, with some of America's largest public companies handing out lavish extras that go well beyond salary and stock awards, according to new research examining spending patterns among the 500 largest publicly traded U.S. companies.

The findings, based on an analysis by executive compensation research firm Equilar, show that spending on several of the biggest-ticket perquisites has surged since 2021. Among the standout figures: an estimated $20,000 in free alcohol provided to at least one executive, more than $100,000 worth of complimentary sports tickets handed to others, and extensive personal use of a company-owned hunting ranch by at least one corporate leader. Collectively, perk spending across large public companies has ballooned into a market now estimated at roughly $600 million a year.

Security costs lead the surge

The single biggest driver behind the increase has been executive security. According to the research, the median cost of providing personal security to top executives has more than doubled since 2021, a trend that reflects growing concern among corporate boards about threats to high-profile leaders. That shift has been echoed in other recent industry data: separate research from ISS Corporate Solutions found that private jet use for personal purposes among chief executives and board chairs at S&P 500 companies climbed to its highest level in roughly a decade, with total spending on personal jet travel rising sharply year over year.

Security spending has become one of the more closely watched categories in executive compensation disclosures in recent years, particularly following high-profile incidents that have heightened boardroom sensitivity to executive safety. Companies have increasingly framed security expenses as a necessary business cost rather than a personal indulgence, even though regulators require such spending to be disclosed as taxable compensation when it benefits an executive personally.

Beyond security: jets, ranches and concierge medicine

Executive perks extend well beyond bodyguards and armored vehicles. Personal use of company aircraft remains one of the most common — and most scrutinized — benefits offered to senior leaders. Regulatory filings have long required companies to disclose the value of personal flights taken by executives on corporate jets, with some firms requiring their chief executives to fly exclusively via private aircraft, even on personal trips, citing security and scheduling concerns.

Some companies have gone further, offering executives access to company-owned recreational properties. Extensive personal use of a corporate hunting ranch was among the perks flagged as part of the broader trend toward high-value, lifestyle-oriented compensation extras. Other companies have adopted concierge medicine arrangements for their top leaders, covering the cost of enhanced, highly personalized healthcare services that go beyond standard employer-provided insurance.

A pattern with a long history

The current wave of perk spending follows a familiar pattern in executive compensation, where lucrative personal benefits tend to expand during periods of strong corporate profitability and investor tolerance, only to draw renewed scrutiny during economic downturns or periods of public backlash. During the 2008 financial crisis, for instance, corporate jet use by auto industry executives became a lightning rod for public anger after several CEOs flew private planes to Washington to request federal bailout funds, prompting some companies, including General Motors and Ford, to scale back or eliminate their aircraft programs entirely in the aftermath.

More recently, high-profile examples have kept the spotlight on executive perks even as spending has climbed. Meta reported spending more than $7 million on personal security for CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a recent year, alongside more than $1.5 million in personal travel costs on private jets, according to public filings. Zuckerberg's expenses reflected both his heightened security profile and a personal effort to travel extensively across the country to meet with everyday Americans, according to company disclosures. Other companies have reported smaller but still notable personal perks for their executives, ranging from clothing allowances to country club memberships intended, in some cases, to facilitate business relationships.

Disclosure rules keep perks in public view

Under Securities and Exchange Commission rules, companies are required to disclose the value of many executive perks in annual proxy filings, since such benefits typically count as taxable income when they primarily serve an executive's personal interest rather than a legitimate business purpose. That disclosure requirement has made perk spending a recurring point of scrutiny for shareholders, proxy advisory firms and corporate governance watchdogs, particularly when perk growth outpaces broader company performance or wage growth for rank-and-file employees.

Boeing, for example, faced scrutiny in recent years after an internal review found that its then-CEO and other top executives had taken personal trips on company aircraft worth more than $500,000 that had been improperly classified as business travel rather than personal perquisites, a correction the company disclosed in a securities filing following a Wall Street Journal investigation.

Why boards keep approving lavish extras

Despite periodic public criticism, boards have generally continued approving substantial perk packages, arguing that such benefits help retain top talent, support executive productivity, and, particularly in the case of security spending, protect company leadership from genuine safety risks. Compensation consultants have noted that some companies view personal use of corporate aircraft as a productivity tool as much as a luxury, allowing executives to avoid the delays and security concerns associated with commercial travel.

Even so, the sheer scale of the current spending — with total executive perk costs across the country's largest public companies now estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars annually — is likely to keep the issue in the spotlight for shareholders and governance advocates evaluating how compensation packages align with company performance and employee pay more broadly.