. They discovered that large corporations such as Oracle and Google were paying top dollar for the protection of their executives. Oracle spent about $1.8 million in a year protecting their CEO. Google was a little thriftier, spending only about a half a million dollars. Major companies are obviously discovering that the safety and welfare of their top brass is an important part of doing business.
Some executives are in more danger than others, however. While Google CEO Eric Schmidt is worth a lot of money, other executives are the subject of more scrutiny. For instance Schering-Plough CEO Fred Hassan has received numerous threats from animal rights activists for his company's involvement in animal testing. Other executives take their business to remote locations where protection can become a necessity. When corporate leaders visit countries like Guatemala, they often hire protection to ensure safe travels.
All of the money spent on executive protection can pay for itself when it prevents just one major mishap. Attacks on executives not only cause human suffering, they also drive down stock prices and destabilize company leadership. A single kidnapping or robbery can cost up to tens of millions of dollars. This number can be inflated by court, legal, and medical costs. Spending just a fraction of this to prevent such an instance is becoming a more common choice for major industry leaders.