R4.6bn netted by Google’s boss a record single payout
GOOGLE chief executive Sundar Pichai is about to have a very big week. Tomorrow an award of 353 939 restricted shares he received before a promotion in 2014 will vest. At the end of last week, the grant was worth about $380 million (R4.6 billion), making it one of the largest single payouts to a public company executive in recent years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Pichai, 45, who has led Alphabet’s Google since 2015, received the shares before his promotion to senior vice-president of products a year earlier, when he took over many of co-founder Larry Page’s responsibilities.
The award swelled in value as Alphabet’s stock surged 90 percent since the grant date, compared with a 39 percent advance of the S&P 500. He has received two more nine-figure stock grants since then. The company has yet to disclose Pichai’s compensation for 2017.
In 2016, the chief executives of S&P 500 companies realised an average of $16.2m from shares that vested or exercising stock options.
Other tech executives have received hefty payouts in the past. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg reaped $2.28bn when he exercised 60 million options as part of the company’s initial public offering in 2012.
In 2016, Tesla’s Elon Musk collected $1.34bn after exercising 6.71 million options, in part to cover a $593m tax bill.
That same year, Monster Beverage’s two top executives took in a combined $598m, thanks to their stock rising 30 percent on average per year for a decade. – Bloomberg