Alphabet’s been cutting back on spending — laying off droves of workers, eliminating long-beloved perks — but plenty of dough seems to be set aside for the tech giant’s C-suite.
Sundar Pichai received a total compensation package worth more than $225 million for leading Google and its parent company through 2022, according to an annual notice to shareholders published Friday. On top of a $2 million salary and almost $6 million for personal security, Pichai received his triennial stock award — a hunk of shares aimed at keeping Pichai motivated, hard-working and incredibly rich.
The Bay Area-based tech giant laid off 12,000 workers in January and has reduced perks for the remaining workforce amid weak digital advertising demand and a turbulent economic picture. Pichai, in a memo to staff announcing the layoffs, said the firm had overhired during the pandemic and wrote, “I take full responsibility for the decisions that led us here.”
It will be up to Pichai and his leadership team, who received eight-figure compensation packages for 2022, to keep morale high and fend off Microsoft’s attempt to turn Bing into a Google Search rival. But the notice, like the layoffs before it, shows the apparent disconnect between executive leaders and the workforces that run their companies.
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