Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai earned nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in total compensation by 2022, more than 800 times the average salary of an employee.
A new securities report filed by Google’s parent company, Alphabet, indicates that Pichai, 50, raised a whopping $226 million last year, most of which came from stock prices.
His actual annual salary was $2 million, he received $6 million for personal security, and the other $218 million came from stock through a stock exchange.
News of Pichai’s big payday has since sparked conversation after Google employees had more than 12,000 layoffs across the company in April and March.
The cuts affect an estimated six percent of Google’s workforce.
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai earned nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in total compensation by 2022, more than 800 times the average salary of employees
A securities report filed by Google’s parent company, Alphabet, indicates Pichai, 50, raised a whopping $226 million last year, most of which came from stock prices
Share prices for other key executives within Alphabet and Google ranged from $22 million to $35 million, according to the filing.
Stock compensation “provides a way for companies to pay their executives based on company performance,” according to the Global Financial Planning Institute.
The awards are a way of ensuring that ‘remuneration is in line with shareholder expectations’.
The high numbers come at a delicate time for the company, which has faced a series of layoffs in offices around the world.
Alphabet initially announced the massive cuts in January, as Pichai said the losses will affect teams, including recruiting and some corporate functions, as well as some engineering and product teams.
More recently, the company made headlines by announcing that it would cease production at their 80-acre campus in San Jose.
DailyMail.com reported that the company has no plans to pick it up again in the “near future” as they embark on a series of layoffs and cost-cutting measures.
The Google village, called Downtown West, would have included shops, restaurants, a hotel, and cultural and entertainment centers, and may also serve as a campus for 25,000 Google employees.
The company dismantled its campus development team — which they said would have a $19 billion economic impact — in a series of downsizing efforts as the economy worsens for big tech.
Earlier this year, Google’s finance chief Ruth Porat wrote a company-wide email explaining how the tech giant is introducing measures to reduce staffing in an effort to cut costs.
According to Porat, the company’s goal for 2023 is to “achieve sustainable savings through improved speed and efficiency.”
Stock prices for other key executives within Alphabet and Google ranged from $22 million to $35 million, according to the filing
Google halts construction of planned 80-acre campus in San Jose, with no plans to pick it up again in the ‘near future’ as they begin a series of layoffs and cost-cutting measures
The plan was to break ground on the site before the end of 2023, but it was put on hold after concerns about delays at the start of the year, with no plan to start again
The series of cost-cutting measures and layoffs has sparked outrage among workers in recent months.
During a strike in London on April 4, hundreds of angry workers gathered outside the company’s headquarters to protest layoffs.
Unite, the company’s largest union, said at the time they would lose some 500 jobs in the UK.
That incident came just weeks after staff in Zurich organized a similar event in March, after employees said the internet company rejected proposals to save jobs.
Union Syndicom, which represents some Google employees, announced the strike in a blog post at the time, saying the company was ignoring calls to “enter into dialogue with employees to thoroughly and seriously explore alternatives to layoffs.”
The ones who walked out in that protest said: ‘We walk out for those who can’t go back in.’
In the recent round of cutbacks, 200 employees within that office were laid off.