Sundar Pichai’s pay soars to $226 million

Stock awards make Google’s Indian American CEO one of the world’s highest-paid corporate leaders

Search giant Google and its parent Alphabet’s Indian American CEO Sundar Pichai earned a whopping $226 million in total compensation in 2022, making him one of the world’s highest-paid corporate leaders.

Pichai, 50, received more than $218 million in the form of stock awards, according to recent company securities filing. The Google boss also earned $2 million in base salary and $6.3 million in other compensation.

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The filing said “other compensation” typically stems from the company’s retirement plans and “personal use of company aircraft.

Under his pay plan, Pichai receives major stock awards every three years. The latest payout marked the third time that Pichai has received a $200 million-plus award since he took over as Google’s top executive. In 2019, he was awarded $281 million.

Pichai’s package put him well above other executives at Alphabet in 2022. Prabhakar Raghavan, the senior vice president of Google’s knowledge and information, and Philipp Schindler, chief business officer, both took in about $37 million. Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat’s compensation was $24.5 million. Their stock grants are given out on an annual basis.

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The median total compensation for Alphabet employees was $279,802 in 2022, according to the filing. Pichai’s compensation was 808 times that amount.

As part of his compensation package, Alphabet spent $5.94 million on personal security for Pichai, according to the filing.

Alphabet noted that the stock bonus was responsible for the pay disparity between Pichai and its median employees. The company said the ratio was 21-to-1 in 2021 and 27-to-1 in 2020.

In January, Alphabet started cutting about 12,000 jobs, or 6% of its global workforce, following months of other measures to reduce spending and set new priorities.

Read: Alphabet CEO’s Pay Soars to $226 Million on Huge Stock Award (April 22, 2023)

As part of the layoffs, Google eliminated positions for at least 31 company-employed massage therapists that worked in its California-based offices.

The company is also said to be requiring employees in its unprofitable Cloud division to share desks and alternate which days they come into the office.