Taser manufacturer develops “secret” weapons for executives after crime in NY

The murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has caused shock waves in executive offices of several companies that continue to resonate to this day. This is bringing a wave of new business to Axon Enterprise.

Taser’s manufacturer Axon says it has received several consultations since the shooting in New York City. As a result, it is developing a “more secret” device that can be used in corporate environments compared to the larger size of the taser used by police authorities.

“Next year, you can start listening to certain CEOs being protected by Taser,” Josh Isner, President of Axon Enterprise told Semafor.

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Adding more corporate customers will give an impulse to Axon. The company reported that its annual revenues more than doubled from 2022 to $ 2.1 billion. The company traditionally works with police departments, but has recently been expanding its client base to include the federal government and companies.

This is not the first time the company expands its focus on the customer. In 2022, he said he would make Drones Taser to schools after shooting at Uvalde’s school. Axon is also investing in real -time artificial intelligence operations, drones and robotics, said in a recent results teleconference.

Although most companies have some kind of protection measure for executives, they increased considerably from the fatal attack to Thompson last year.

“There is a significant increase in evaluations happening now,” said Glen Kucera, president of Allied Universal enhanced protection services, which provides security to about 80% of Fortune 500 companies to last month. “Advice, investors and other stakeholders are increasingly demanding that risk assessments are made.”

Companies are already spending millions of dollars every year to protect prominent CEOs. Alphabet spends about $ 6.8 million a year to protect CEO Sundar Pichai. And Meta Platforms disbursed about $ 14 million to protect Mark Zuckerberg, according to public documents released last year.