While Sundar Pichai perceived a base salary of 2 million in 2022, he made most of his money from a multi-year performance-based compensation. In 2019, Pichai received stock awards for over $276 million that can be vested over the years. In 2020-21 Pichai perceived a base salary of $2 million and additional stock awards for over $5.4 million and $3.36 million, respectively.
Indeed Pichai has a bunch of stocks of Alphabet that will be vested (exercised or sold) over the years.
As of 2022, Pichai had a Market Value of Shares or Units of Stock That Have Not Vested for $88.74 million.
A Market Value of Unearned Shares or Units of Stock That Have Not Vested of $299.5 million.
As of 2022, Pichai has vested at least $79.6 million of the stock awarded between 2019-2022.
Pichai can vest his stock awards based on a three-year performanceplan, which determines the payout curve.
Sundar Pichai, 49, has been the Chief Executive Officer of Alphabet since December 2019 and Google since 2015.
He joined Google in 2004, leading product and engineering for various product units within Google, such as Search, Chrome, Maps, Android, Gmail, And Google Apps (now rebranded as Wokrspace).
Pichai’s rise to become CEO started between 2014-15 when he was promoted as Senior Vice President of Products, while he was Senior Vice President of Android, Chrome, and Apps between 2013-14.
As he was appointed CEO, Pichai shifted the focus of Google to an AI-first company.
What does other tech companies’ executive compensation look like?
Microsoft follows a similar pattern, where, for instance, Satya Nadella‘s pay mix has primarily been skewed toward performance in the last years.
For instance, in 2022, Satya Nadella received a base salary of $2.5 million; he also got performance-based companions (stock awards and non-equity incentives) for over $52 million.
Satya Nadella, in 2022, made most of his money from his performance-based compensation, which represented 96% of the total compensation. Indeed, on a base salary of $2.5 million in 2022, Nadella made in total (comprising stock awards and non-equity incentives) over $54.9 million in compensation. Compared to a compensation of $49.8 million in 2021 and $44.3 million in 2020.
A similar compensation structure is followed by Amazon, as you can see from Andy Jassy’s net worth.
Amazon’s CEO Andy Jessy, joined Amazon in the very early days (1997), and he now has 94,729 shares, making him a top individual shareholder of the company. Those shares are worth around $9 million. However, over the years, Andy Jessy might have sold part of the shares he got over the years, and he has a $175,000 salary, which makes him a millionaire.
Key Highlights
Sundar Pichai’s Compensation Breakdown:
Sundar Pichai’s base salary in 2022 was $2 million.
Most of Pichai’s earnings come from multi-year performance-based compensation.
In 2019, Pichai received stock awards worth over $276 million, vesting over several years.
In 2020-21, Pichai received additional stock awards of $5.4 million and $3.36 million, respectively.
Pichai has a substantial amount of Alphabet stocks that are vested and will vest over the years.
As of 2022, Pichai had a Market Value of Shares or Units of Stock That Have Not Vested of $88.74 million.
Pichai had a Market Value of Unearned Shares or Units of Stock That Have Not Vested of $299.5 million.
He has vested at least $79.6 million of the stock awarded between 2019-2022.
Vesting of stock awards is based on a three-year performance plan.
Sundar Pichai’s Career and Roles:
Sundar Pichai has been the CEO of Alphabet since December 2019 and Google since 2015.
He joined Google in 2004 and played key roles in various product units, including Search, Chrome, Maps, Android, Gmail, and Google Apps.
He was promoted to Senior Vice President of Products in 2014-15 and had leadership roles in Android, Chrome, and Apps in 2013-14.
As CEO, Pichai shifted Google’s focus to become an AI-first company.
Similar Compensation Patterns in Other Tech Companies:
Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella’s compensation follows a similar pattern.
In 2022, Nadella had a base salary of $2.5 million and received performance-based compensation (stock awards and non-equity incentives) of over $52 million.
Performance-based compensation represented 96% of Nadella’s total compensation in 2022.
Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy also follows a comparable compensation structure.
Jassy, a top individual shareholder of Amazon, has a significant number of shares worth around $9 million.
He receives a $175,000 salary, contributing to his overall wealth.
Google is an attention merchant that – in 2022 – generated over $224 billion (almost 80% of revenues) from ads (Google Search, YouTube Ads, and Network sites), followed by Google Play, Pixel phones, YouTube Premium (a $29 billion segment), and Google Cloud ($26.2 billion).
Google is primarily owned by its founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who have more than 51% voting power. Other individual shareholders comprise John Doerr (1.5%), a venture capitalist and early investor in Google, and CEO, Sundar Pichai. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has 4.2% voting power. The most prominent institutional shareholders are mutual funds BlackRock and The Vanguard Group, with 2.7% and 3.1%, respectively.
Of Google’s (Alphabet) over $282 billion revenue for 2022, Google also generated over a billion dollars from a group of startup bets, which Google considers potential moonshots (companies that might open up new industries). Those Google’s bets also generated a loss for the company of over $6 billion in the same year. In short, Google is using the money generated by search and betting it on other innovative industries. Of Google’s (Alphabet) over $282 billion revenue for 2022, Google also generated over a billion dollars from a group of startup bets, which Google considers potential moonshots (companies that might open up new industries). Those Google’s bets also generated a loss for the company of over $6 billion in the same year. In short, Google is using the money generated by search and betting it on other innovative industries.
Google is an attention merchant that – in 2022 – generated $224 billion (almost 80% of its total revenues) from ads (Google Search, YouTube Ads, and Network sites), followed by Google Play, Pixel phones, YouTube Premium (a $29 billion segment), and Google Cloud ($26.3 billion).
The traffic acquisition cost represents the expenses incurred by an internet company, like Google, to gain qualified traffic – on its pages – for monetization. Over the years, Google has been able to reduce its traffic acquisition costs and, in any case, to keep it stable. In 2022 Google spent 21.75% of its total advertising revenues (over $48 billion) to guarantee its traffic on several desktop and mobile devices across the web.
Alphabet generated over $282B from Google search and others, $32.78 billion from the Network members (Adsense and AdMob), $29.2 billion from YouTube Ads, $26.28B from the Cloud, and $29 billion from other sources (Google Play, Hardware devices, and other services).
YouTube was acquired for almost $1.7 billion in 2006 by Google. It makes money through advertising and subscription revenues. YouTube advertising network is part of Google Ads, and it reported more than $29B in revenues by 2022. YouTube also makes money with its paid memberships and premium content.
In 2022, Google generated over $282 billion in revenues, of which over $162 billion from Google Search, over $29 billion from YouTube Ads, and almost $33 billion from Network Members’ properties. In addition, Google generated over $29 billion in other revenue, over $26 billion from Google Cloud, and over a billion dollars from other bets.
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
