This text initially appeared on Enterprise Insider.
After a tough couple of years, Meta is flying: Income is rising once more, earnings are means up after some painful belt-tightening, and its inventory is at a report excessive.
What might probably go incorrect?
Nicely, perhaps Mark Zuckerberg, its CEO, might get harm, or worse, in a cage match?
That is what Meta is suggesting in a brand new Securities and Alternate Fee submitting out this week. Within the firm’s latest annual report, it informed traders that Zuckerberg routinely did dangerous stuff for enjoyable — and that it will be an actual downside for the corporate if he bought injured doing that.
From Meta’s 10-Ok, filed beneath “danger components”:
We at present rely on the continued providers and efficiency of our key personnel, together with Mark Zuckerberg. Mr. Zuckerberg and sure different members of administration take part in varied high-risk actions, similar to fight sports activities, excessive sports activities, and leisure aviation, which carry the chance of significant harm and loss of life.
Meta is presumably referring to Zuckerberg’s well-documented embrace of every kind of brotastic enjoyable, together with combined martial arts, hydrofoiling, and CrossFit. He has additionally been coaching to get his pilot license, The Info reported.
And he has gotten banged up alongside the best way: Final 12 months, he tore his ACL in a coaching combat.
Zuckerberg definitely is not the one tech mogul who likes these items. His rival Elon Musk, as an example, flies himself round on a regular basis, and he famously challenged Zuckerberg to a cage match (which some individuals insisted was going to be an actual factor however by no means panned out).
However he will be the solely Large Tech CEO who’s spelled that out as an issue for traders.
Musk’s Tesla, as an example, merely factors out that the corporate is “extremely dependent” on his providers and would not point out the prospect of him crashing one in all his Gulfstreams. (It does, nevertheless, say that Musk “doesn’t dedicate his full time and a focus to Tesla” as a result of he is additionally operating SpaceX, X, and different ventures.)
Friends similar to Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon both say that their CEOs are necessary or do not even point out them.
Meta reps didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. However Zuckerberg mainly did, by responding to a put up concerning the 10-Ok submitting on Threads:
It is price mentioning that whereas the “danger issue” part of any public firm may be helpful to scan, because it lays out every kind of issues that might come up, it often is just not the sort of factor most traders care about. The purpose is to insulate the corporate from legal responsibility in case one thing does go incorrect: “See? We informed you this might occur. Now inform your legal professionals to cease bothering us.”
So whereas Meta does take Zuckerberg’s well-being very severely — in 2022, it spent $15 million on private safety for him and his household — it is unlikely it thinks he’ll get actually, actually harm. However they’re letting us it might occur, simply in case.
