Police said the killing was a targeted attack rather than a random act of violence. New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch called the shooting a “premeditated, pre-planned, targeted attack.” The shooter was caught on camera and was last seen in Central Park. They were not arrested. The motive for the killing is unknown, but Thompson’s wife told NBC News that “some people had threatened him.”

Thompson is executive vice president and CEO of UnitedHealthcare, a position he was given in 2021, while Andrew Witty is CEO of the larger UnitedHealth Group. His killing comes at a time when corporations are increasingly concerned about the safety of their top executives, and it could confirm the worst fears of corporate America. More acutely, targeting a senior executive raises new questions about whether personal safety, corporate jet travel and trained defensive drivers should be extended to roles beyond the CEO.

“We don’t know the motivation. If it’s a personal motivation, that certainly changes the landscape a little bit,” says Glen Kucera, CEO of MSA Security, a threat protection company Assets. “If the motivation was driven by the business they’re in, healthcare or anything that might be 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 to their top executives.

In a review of CEO benefits between 2020 and 2023, consulting firm ISS-Corporate found that home security benefits for CEOs of S&P 500 companies fell from 12.6% in 2020 to 15.7% in 2020 Data from S&P 500 companies have increased steadily since 2018, Esgauge shows. In 2018, only 13.2% of CEOs had these benefits, compared to 17.9% in 2024.

However, the trend towards increasing security among healthcare companies is much less pronounced. Among Russell 3000 healthcare companies, personal security costs actually trended down from 0.8% in 2018 to 0.5% in 2024, Esgauge data shows. And the average value of security for CEOs in general was about $50,000 in 2023, according to WTW, an insurance brokerage and risk management firm.

However, some of the world’s most prominent executives cost their companies millions in protective services every year. The richest man in the world, Elon Musk, now travels with up to 20 security guards New York Times reported. Personal security for Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai costs around $6.8 million per year, according to SEC filings. And Meta Platforms increased security spending for Mark Zuckerberg from $10 million to $14 million per year in February 2023, according to public documents.

“We believe that Mr. Zuckerberg’s role puts him in a unique position: he is synonymous with meta and therefore negative sentiment toward our company is directly associated with and often transferred to Mr. Zuckerberg,” the company wrote last year in disclosures.

“When you’re talking about someone who’s worth millions or billions of dollars and who runs an entire company, there’s the real possibility of kidnapping, the real possibility of extortion, the real possibility of attempts on their life,” said Bill Herzog, the CEO of LionHeart Security Services, based in Arizona, previously Assets about the safety of managers.

However, most of the focus on security was at the CEO and chairman levels, rather than other named executives. At UnitedHealth Group, the company requires CEO Andrew Witty to fly on a corporate jet for all business trips and encourages him to fly the jet for personal and family trips. Based on the company’s most recent disclosures, Witty did not use the jet for personal travel in 2023. However, the company did not disclose any other personal security benefits for executives, including Thompson.

Cardinal Health spent $445,732 on business 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 its entire board in January and February 2021 amid tight scrutiny at the company and the “tense atmosphere following the 2020 US election and the attack on the US Capitol,” the company told investors. It also announced that it provides personal security for other executives in response to certain threats.

“Nobody ever goes to work expecting something like this to happen to them, right? That’s why it’s so important to be informed. Be aware of your surroundings. Have good safety protocol in place in case this happens,” says Kucera. “You have to be prepared.”

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