14 DAY TRIAL // After launching a multi-billion business and becoming himself a billionaire and philanthropist, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg is entering another club – the one that hosts CEOs with a $1 yearly salary.
According to a filing made by the company with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, in 2013, Zuckerberg was paid $1 for his services to the company, down from over $500,000 (€362,499) in 2012, when Facebook went public.
Of course, the man behind Facebook doesn’t really need a hefty salary since he owns a good part of the company. In fact, he’s the 22nd richest person in the world according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and number 21 according to Forbes.
Zuckerberg is following the same path taken by other tech leaders in Silicon Valley, including Apple’s late Steve Jobs, or Google’s Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who all managed to build fortunes thanks to the stakes they had in the companies they built.
The young Facebook CEO already has a wealth estimated at about $27 billion (€19.6 billion) and has joined a group of billionaires that have promised to donate most of their wealth.
While Zuck’s salary was of only $1, he actually got over $650,000 (€471,248) from the company, down from nearly $2 million (€1.45 million) the year before. The money was used for various fees, fuel, crew and catering costs for his use of private planes, but also part of his security program.
By exercising stock options to purchase 60 million shares, Zuckerberg made another $3.3 billion (€2.4 billion), the filing reveals. 41.35 million of those shares were given by the CEO in a secondary offering from Facebook this past December. Another 18 million shares were gifted by him to charity, an act that put him and his wife at the top of the list among young philanthropists.
Compared to 2012, other Facebook leaders have also suffered some compensation losses. Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer, received $16.2 million (€11.7 million) in 2013, compared to over $26 million (€18.8 million) the year before.
David Ebersman, chief financial officer, earned $10.5 million (€7.6 million) in compensation in 2013, seven million less than he made the year before. Mike Schroepfer, chief technology officer, also gained $12.6 million / €9.13 million (down from $20.7 million / €15 million) in 2013, while David Fischer, Facebook VP, earned compensation of $8 million (€5.8 million).