CEOs of leading multinational firms have been famously known to draw in fortunes as their annual incomes for a while now. One look at companies such as Facebook and Tesla and you’ll know who these big players are. They’re also the regulars on the list of the highest-paid CEOs in the world. No exception to this list is Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai. According to Business Today, Pichai made $281 million as compensation in 2019. That’s approximately Rs. 2,100 crore.
Counting the zeros in that one? There’s more. As per Google and Alphabet Inc.’s regulatory filing submitted to an advisory board in the US, the amount is 1,085 times the average of the total pay of all of Alphabet Inc.’s employees put together. After all, being CEO of both Alphabet Inc. and Google does mean raking inthe big bucks. It’s important to note that of the $281million in earnings, the majority is in the form of stocks, which will be paid out, depending on how Alphabet Inc.’s stock performs in 2020.
The company’s regulatory list also revealed that Sundar Pichai earned $650 thousand in 2019, which amounts to roughly Rs 5 crore. But this figure is likely to increase to $2 million this year, as per Bloomberg reports. The drastic increase in values was estimated as co-founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, stepped down from their roles in the company late last year. Page was also CEO of Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., while Brin helmed Alphabet Inc. as president of the company. Sundar Pichai’s new role as both Alphabet Inc. and Google’s CEO therefore guarantees him an appropriate salary hike.
So how does Alphabet Inc. arrive at a CEO’s paycheck this high, you may ask? Its board of directors looks closely at salaries drawn by top executives in other companies such as Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Netflix in order to decide its own CEO’s compensation for the year. Pretty scientific, we’d say.
