Google boss becomes highest-paid in US

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The chief executive of Google, Sundar Pichai, has been awarded $199m (£138m) in shares, a regulatory filing has revealed.

It makes him the highest-paid chief executive in the US.

Mr Pichai became chief executive of the search engine giant following the creation of its parent, Alphabet.

The founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, have amassed fortunes of $34.6bn and $33.9bn, according to Forbes.



Mr Pichai, 43, was awarded 273,328 Alphabet shares on 3 February, worth a total of $199m, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The new award of shares takes Mr Pichai's total stock value to approximately $650m.

Mr Pichai's share award will vest incrementally each quarter until 2019. In other words, full control over the shares will pass to him on a gradual basis.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai just got an award in stock worth about $199 million from Alphabet. The bonus takes Pichai right in the top highest-paid executives of a publicly traded company like Google.

The company gave Pichai 273,328 Class C shares. The deal with these shares is that their value will increase each quarter until 2019, should Pichai keep his job until then.

On Wednesday, Gogle's CEO sold 375 Class A common shares for $786.28 per share, and 3,625 Class C stock for $768.84 per share.

According to Bloomberg, the sum is the largest bonus everoffered to a Google executive officer.

Analysts also point out that although the sum might be huge for the everyday man, when compared with the global figures from the tech industry, it is not that impressive. Pichai's leadership creates value for the company and that impacts the organization as a whole.

The company's policy is that the CEO's equity grants must bereported in filings. This is the first time that Pichai receives an award from the company.

Alphabet offered bonuses to other executives, as well.

Diane Greene, who is in charge of Google's cloud business since November 2015, received $42.8 million in restricted stock.

Greene, who founded Bebop Technologies Inc., got equity worth $148 million in 2015, after Bebop was purchased by Google.

Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat received equity in the sum of $38.3 million. The equity sits under the same condition as Pichai's award.

A report from Credit Suisse rates Pichai's Alphabet holdings at approximately $650 million in value.

Google established a tradition of giving equity grants to its leaders every other year. The company is convinced that granting the consistent bonuses at this interval motivates executives to add value to the firm and plan their careers in the long run.


Last year, Google reorganized itself into Alphabet. It was then that Pichai, who was the right hand of Google's co-founder Larry Page, took the helm of the search engine company. After news of the restructuring reached the media, the value of Alphabet's shares went up by 4 percent.

The Google chief executive joined the company since 2004, initially leading product management on a number of Google's client software products, including Google Chrome] and Chrome OS, as well as being largely responsible for Google Drive. He also oversaw the development of Gmail and Google Maps.

He previously worked in engineering and product management at Applied Materials and as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company.

It comes at a time of heightened scrutiny of Google's tax affairs, following the company's deal with HM Revenue & Customs to pay back taxes dating from 2005.

The controversial tax deal was labelled derisory by Labour. Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell called for greater transparency, saying it looked like a "sweetheart deal".

"HMRC seems to have settled for a relatively small amount in comparison with the overall profits that are made by the company in this country. And some of the independent analysts have argued that it should be at least 10 times this amount," he said.

Google's regulatory filings for for the period 2005 to 2014, show it generated sales of £24bn ($34.6bn) in the UK during the period with an estimated profit of about £7.2bn on those sales. Page 83 of its most recent 10k report states "revenues by geography are based on the billing addresses of our customers".

Last week, Alphabet - Google's parent company - surpassed Apple as the world's most valuable firm after it reported a profit of $4.9bn (£3.4bn) in the three months to the end of December, an increase from $4.7bn a year ago.

On an annual basis, Alphabet made $16.3bn, but the figures showed that the "Other Bets" business lost $3.6bn during the period, while Google's operating income rose to $23.4bn, as online advertising increased.

Source: BB and TechTimes


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