Sundar Pichai’s new pay package could be worth up to $692 million. According to a recent filing first noted by the Financial Times, Alphabet has structured a three-year deal for its Google CEO that could make him one of the highest-paid executives in the world. The majority of this compensation is tied to performance, including new stock incentives linked to the company’s autonomous vehicle unit, Waymo, and its drone delivery venture, Wing.
What is striking is how little public fascination Pichai attracts compared to Google’s founders. Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the second- and fourth-richest people in the world, have lately captured headlines for a different reason entirely. Both have been purchasing lavish Miami properties, a move widely seen as a response to California’s proposed Billionaire Tax Act. That ballot initiative would target the state’s roughly 200 billionaires with a one-time 5% levy on net worth exceeding one billion dollars. Page reportedly spent over $173 million on two mansions in Coconut Grove, Florida, while Brin was recently linked to a $51 million megamansion just 14 miles away, adding to two earlier purchases totaling $92 million.
In contrast, Pichai remains quietly rooted in Los Altos, California, as far as the public knows. He is a billionaire as well. The nearly sevenfold growth in Google’s market capitalization since he took the helm in 2015 has made the stock he accumulated along the way hugely valuable. He and his wife currently hold shares worth nearly $500 million, with another estimated $650 million sold as of last summer, according to Bloomberg’s calculations.