Sundar Pichai is getting a huge pay raise in 2020
The CEO of Google and its parent company Alphabet, Sundar Pichai, is getting a huge pay raise in the year 2020. Starting January 1, Pichai (47) will get an annual $242 million pay package. Earlier this month, Pichai took over as Alphabet CEO after Google co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, stepped down from their respective leadership roles. Here are more details.
Here's what Pichai's $242 million pay package includes
According to a Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) filing on Friday, Pichai will be paid $2 million in annual salary starting January 1. The salary bump comes on top of a $240 million stock package. This includes $90 million stock grants based on Alphabet's performance. Pichai received two other stock grants—$120 million and $30 million—neither tied to Alphabet's performance, but to his continued employment instead.
Page, Brin stepped down from leadership roles on December 3
Pichai's pay raise comes after his role was expanded. On December 3, Page stepped down as Alphabet CEO while Brin resigned as its President. The two founded Google 21 years ago and established the holding company Alphabet in 2015, leaving Pichai in-charge of Google's core money-making businesses. However, Page and Brin continue to be involved as co-founders, shareholders and Alphabet's board members.
Previously, Pichai earned $650,000 as base salary
To compare, Page was getting an annual salary of $1 in the same role as Pichai, but to be fair, Page is the world's seventh-richest person. Pichai still lags behind Tim Cook's $376 million stock awards when he took over as Apple's CEO in 2011. His own base salary when he took over as Google CEO in 2015 was $652,500.
Pichai's total compensation in 2018 was $1.9 million
However, even though his base $650K salary remained in 2018, Pichai's total compensation that year was $1.9 million. In 2016, he also received stock awards of $199 million, the highest ever for any Alphabet executive at the time.
Pichai joined Google in 2004
Born in Chennai, Pichai studied engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology-Kharagpur and went on to study at Stanford University and Wharton School. He joined Google in 2004 and helped lead the development of Google Toolbar and the now widely-used browser Google Chrome. He took over as Google CEO in 2015 when Alphabet was created. In July 2017, he also joined the Alphabet board.
