Alphabet has disclosed a new three-year pay arrangement for Google CEO Sundar Pichai that could be worth up to $692 million, according to a regulatory filing first reported by the Financial Times. The bulk of the package is performance-linked, including stock incentives tied to Waymo, Alphabet's self-driving car division, and Wing, its drone delivery operation. If those businesses hit their targets, Pichai stands to become one of the highest-compensated executives in corporate America.
The disclosure is a reminder of how much wealth Pichai has accumulated since taking the top job in 2015. Google's market capitalisation has grown roughly sevenfold since then, and the stock he has received along the way has compounded accordingly. He and his wife currently hold shares valued at close to $500 million, and Bloomberg estimates he had sold a further $650 million worth as of last summer.
Where the founders are putting their money
While Pichai's pay package makes headlines, Google's co-founders are attracting attention for different reasons. Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the second- and fourth-richest people in the world, respectively, have both been buying property in Miami on a significant scale.
The purchases are widely read as a response to California's proposed Billionaire Tax Act, a ballot initiative that would impose a one-time 5% levy on net worth above $1 billion, targeting around 200 of the state's wealthiest residents. Florida has no state income tax and no equivalent wealth levy.
Page has spent more than $173 million on two mansions in Miami's Coconut Grove neighbourhood. Brin has separately been linked to a $51 million property 14 miles away, on top of two earlier Florida purchases totalling $92 million. Together, the founders have committed well over $300 million to Miami real estate in a relatively short period.
Pichai stays put
Pichai, as far as public records show, remains in Los Altos, California. He is also a billionaire and would fall within the scope of the proposed tax, but he has made no visible moves to establish residency elsewhere.
The contrast is notable. The men who built Google are hedging against California's political direction. The man running it is not, at least not yet.