This article originally appeared on Business Insider.
After a tough few years, Meta is on a roll. Revenues are rising again, profits are up significantly after a period of painful tightening, and stock prices are at all-time highs.
What could go wrong?
Well, maybe its CEO Mark Zuckerberg gets hurt in a cage match, or worse?
That's what Meta suggests in a new Securities and Exchange Commission filing this week. In the company's most recent annual report, it told investors that Mr. Zuckerberg routinely does dangerous things for fun, and that any injury resulting from his actions would be a major problem for the company.
From Meta's 10-K filed under “Risk Factors”:
We currently rely on the continued service and accomplishments of key personnel, including Mark Zuckerberg. Mr. Zuckerberg and some other executives participate in a variety of high-risk activities that involve the risk of serious injury or death, including martial arts, extreme sports, and recreational aviation.
The meta is likely referring to Zuckerberg's well-documented embrace of all sorts of brotastic indulgences, including mixed martial arts, hydrofoils, and CrossFit. Masu. According to the Information, he is also training to obtain a pilot's license.
and he have I encountered some terrible things along the way. Last year, he tore his anterior cruciate ligament in a match during training.
To be sure, Zuckerberg isn't the only tech mogul to like this kind of thing. His rival Elon Musk, for example, is always on the go, famously challenging Zuckerberg to a cage match (some claimed it would be real, but it never came to fruition).
But he may be the only CEO of a major tech company to explicitly say it's an issue for investors.
Musk's Tesla, for example, only points out that the company is “heavily dependent” on Musk's services, without mentioning the possibility that he could crash the Gulfstream. (However, he also said that since Musk also runs SpaceX, X and other businesses, he is “not devoting all of his time and attention to Tesla.”)
Peers like Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon say their CEOs matter, or they don't even mention them.
Meta representatives did not respond to requests for comment. But Mr. Zuckerberg essentially did so by replying to a post about his 10-K filing on Threads.
It's worth pointing out that a public company's “Risk Factors” section is useful for skimming, as it lists all sorts of issues that can arise, but typically… It's not something that most investors care about. The important thing is that the company is exempt from liability if something goes wrong. “See? We said something like this could happen. Now tell your lawyer to stop bothering us.”
That's why Meta is taking Mr. Zuckerberg's health so seriously, spending $15 million on Mr. Zuckerberg and his family's safety in 2022, if he gets really, really hurt. It is highly likely that you are not thinking about it.But they allow it did it Just in case.
