The Lavish Perks of Zuckerberg, Zaslav, Tim Cook, Jim Dolan, Reed Hastings and Other Big Guns

It's not news that Hollywood and Silicon Valley CEOs — or the head honchos of any large company or conglomerate — make a lot of money.

But behind the discussions about sky-high salaries and stocks grants are the lesser-known benefits of being the boss: free rides in company planes and helicopters, country club memberships and bodyguards. These "perquisites" can range from the mundane — company health care plans and 401(k) retirement plan contributions — to the decisively more lavish benefits far out of the reach of general employees.

David Zaslav, the CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery who has emerged as a chief opponent of the Screen Actors Guild and Writers Guild of America strikes, earned $3.2 million in salary last year. But his total compensation for 2022 was $39.3 million, most of it from stock options and incentive plans. And oh yes, he was compensated $826,000 for exclusive air travel.

He's hardly an outlier when it comes to traveling on the company's dime. Netflix paid $1 million for CEO Reed Hasting's private plane trips, and Apple spent $767,000 on CEO Tim Cook's flights. But few top dogs can beat Mark Zuckerberg's travel expenses, with Meta shelling out $2.3 million in 2022 for that category.

Such expensive perks — and CEO compensation as a whole — have been at the forefront of the SAG-AFTRA and WGA labor stoppages, as workers compare their average salaries to those of senior executives'.

On average, chief executives of major media conglomerates earned $32.6 million last year, Variety reported. For comparison, the median salary for SAG-AFTRA members is below $47,000, according to Deadline. And while the WGA has not released a full account of writers' median pay since 2014, the union disclosed in March that median weekly pay for writer-producers has dropped 23% from a decade ago, according to the L.A. Times.

Other CEOs, such as Paramount's Bob Bakish, listed no air travel costs last year, but he did record nearly $60,000 in car-service fees, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

James Dolan, the owner of Madison Square Garden Entertainment and Sphere Entertainment, reportedly uses a helicopter to travel to Manhattan from his Long Island home for work, according to the Hollywood Reporter. In 2022, MSG paid more than $600,000 last year for his helicopter and jet.

Zuckerberg also racked up extreme security costs, which is somewhat understandable considering his title as The New Republic magazine's 2021 "scoundrel of the year" for creating "the worst, most damaging website in the world."

Last year, Meta spent nearly $25 million alone for his security costs, telling investors that the company had “identified specific threats to Mr. Zuckerberg as a result of the high-profile nature of being our founder, CEO, chair and controlling shareholder.” 

Notably, Google parent Alphabet Inc. spent $5.9 million on CEO Sundar Pichai's security last year, while Fox Corp. spent $1.5 million on CEO Lachlan Murdoch and incoming Chairman Emeritus Rupert Murdoch, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Senior executives also get special benefits due to their status and depending on what their companies offer. Executives at Disney get free theme park tickets and MSG executives can go to games and concerts at the company's venues for free. Other top executives, such as Lionsgate Entertainment Corp.'s Jon Feltheimer and Endeavor's Ari Emanuel, get their country club memberships covered.

Executives also often get tax advisory and business management services, while others, including Zaslav, are provided home internet, according to The Hollywood Reporter.