Alphabet grants new CEO largest stock award yet

This article is more than 12 months old

Dec 23, 2019 06:00 am

BENGALURU, INDIA Alphabet Inc's newly-instated chief executive officer Sundar Pichai, who is also the CEO of Google, will receive a hefty US$240 million (S$325 million) in performance-based stock awards over the next three years, the highest ever promised to any executive of the search giant.

Mr Pichai will also take home US$2 million in annual salary starting 2020, according to a regulatory filing on Friday, compared with a US$1 salary received by Mr Larry Page in the same role last year.

Google co-founders Page and Sergey Brin stepped down earlier this month as leaders of the Internet behemoth they founded 21 years ago.

Mr Pichai is now the public face of a company that is facing criticism from US lawmakers, as well as its employees, over issues ranging from privacy to monopoly.

When he took over as Google's chief in 2015, Mr Pichai drew an annual salary of US$652,500. The following year, his earnings skyrocketed, thanks to US$199 million in stock awards, the highest for any Alphabet executive back then.

According to the most recent proxy statement from the company, Mr Pichai earned nearly US$1.9 million in 2018, which mostly included the costs for his security and personal use of aircraft. His base salary that year was US$650,000. - REUTERS