Google has increased Sundar Pichai’s total potential salary in the next three years to $692 million i.e. about Rs 6,400 crore, making him one of the highest paid chief executives in the world. The company said on Friday that most of Pichai’s package is in performance stock units, with a target value of $126 million, which is divided equally into two parts. The value of the PSUs will be determined based on parent company Alphabet’s total shareholder return, which will be compared to the rest of the S&P 100 stocks, and if it performs well enough, a payout could be double the target, or up to $252 million. If it remains behind then nothing will be achieved.
Will they also have a share in the salary?
The CEO will also receive $84 million worth of restricted stock over the next three years, which will vest approximately every month for the time he remains at the company, and an annual salary of $2 million. Google has added two new stock incentives worth up to $350 million tied to the growth of its Waymo self-driving taxi arm and Wing drone delivery start-up. Pichai will receive Waymo stock with a target value of $130 million and Wing Aviation shares worth $45 million over three years, based on their fair value. Again, both can pay up to 200 percent of the target. If the CEO performs above expectations, he will receive a maximum payment of $692 million, which will include a baseline amount of $391 million in stock and salary. Alphabet’s board said that while Waymo and Wing are facing major challenges in autonomous driving and delivery, they have made good progress under Mr Pichai’s watch. Further promoting Mr. Pichai… is in the best interests of Alphabet and its stockholders.
Google’s success under Pichai’s leadership
Since Pichai became CEO in August 2015, Google’s market capitalization has grown nearly sevenfold, from $535 billion to $3.6 trillion, briefly surpassing $4 trillion in January. This boom has made the 53-year-old former McKinsey consultant of Indian origin a billionaire. He joined in 2004 and made his name by developing the Chrome browser and leading the Android division. The search giant was criticized for being slow to adopt AI — allowing OpenAI to release its first hit product, ChatGPT, in late 2022 — but they have since bounced back, releasing the latest AI models and integrating the technology into their main search engine.
How does Pichai earn?
Pichai has also settled two antitrust cases brought against Google’s search and app store businesses. A third case is pending against its advertising network. Pichai last received a $218 million stock award in December 2022, which was structured the same way. His earnings are covered by his personal security expenses, which will increase to $8.3 million by 2024. Earlier this week, Pichai sold 32,500 Class C shares at an average price of $303, worth about $9.8 million. Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index estimates that he has sold about $650 million worth of stock since becoming CEO.
How many shares of Google do the Pichai couple own?
According to regulatory filings, he and his wife Anjali own a total of 1.67 million Google shares, worth $498 million at Friday’s stock price of $298. Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page still control the company through their ownership of “super-voting” Class B stock, which gives them 56 percent of the decision-making power. Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella earned $96.5 million in the company’s fiscal year 2025, of which about $84 million came from stock awards. This figure was more than $48.5 million a year ago. Apple boss Tim Cook will earn $74.3 million in 2025.