Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai's salary soared to $226 MILLION in 2022

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai’s salary soared to $226 MILLION in 2022 on stock awards – more than 800 times the median employee’s salary – as Google lays off 12,000 workers

  • Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai made $226M in 2022, mostly from stock awards
  • Pichai’s compensation is more than 800 times the average employee’s 
  • New number comes just months after Google announced 12,000 layoffs

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai made nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in total compensation in 2022, more than 800 times the median employees salary. 

A new securities report filed by Google’s parent company Alphabet indicates Pichai, 50, brought in a whopping $226 million last year with most of the money coming through stock awards. 

His actual annual salary was $2 million, he received $6 million for personal security, and the other $218 million came from equities through a stock grant. 

The news of Pichai’s big payday has since sparked a conversation after Google employees held walk outs in April and March over 12,000 layoffs within the company.

The cuts impact an estimated six percent of Google’s workforce. 

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai made nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in total compensation in 2022, more than 800 times the median employees salary

A securities report filed by Google’s parent company Alphabet indicates Pichai, 50, brought in a whopping $226 million last year with most of the money coming through stock awards

According to the filing, stock awards for other principal executives within Alphabet and Google ranged from from $22 million to $35 million. 

Stock awards ‘provide corporations a way to pay their executives based on company performance,’ according to the Global Financial Planning Institute. 

The awards are a way to ensure that ‘compensation aligns with the expectations of the shareholder.’ 

The inflated numbers come at a delicate time for the company which has seen backlash over a string of layoffs in offices across the world. 

Alphabet initially announced the large scale cuts in January as Pichai said the losses affect teams including recruiting and some corporate functions, as well as some engineering and products teams.

More recently, the company made headlines for announcing a halt on production of their 80-acre campus in San Jose. 

DailyMail.com reported the company has no plans to pick it up again in the ‘near future,’ as they begin a series of layoffs and cost cutting measures.

The Google village, named Downtown West, would have included shops, restaurants, a hotel, and cultural and entertainment hubs, as well as potentially acting as the campus for 25,000 Google employees.

The company gutted its development team for the campus – which they said would have an economic impact of $19 billion –  in a series of downsizing efforts as the economy gets worse for big tech.

Earlier this year, Google’s finance chief, Ruth Porat, penned a company-wide email explaining how the tech giant is introducing measures to cut employee services in an effort to reduce expenses. 

According to Porat, the company’s goal for 2023 is to ‘deliver durable savings through improved velocity and efficiency.’

According to the filing, stock awards for other principal executives within Alphabet and Google ranged from from $22 million to $35 million

Google is halting construction on its planned 80-acre campus in San Jose with no plans to pick it up again in the ‘near future’ as they begin a series of layoffs and cost cutting measures

The plan was to break ground on the site before 2023 ended but it was paused after worries of delays at the start of the year, with no plan to begin again

The series of cost-cutting measures and layoffs has sparked outrage amongst employees over the past several months.  

During a walkout held in London on April 4, hundreds of angry employees gathered outside the company’s headquarters to protest layoffs.

Unite, the biggest union for the company, said at the time they predict some 500 UK job losses.

That incident came just weeks after staff in Zurich staged a similar event in March after employees said the internet company had rejected proposals to save jobs. 

Union Syndicom, which represents some Google employees, announced the walkout in a blog post at the time, saying the company ignored calls to ‘engage in dialogue with workers to thoroughly and seriously examine alternatives to layoffs.’

Those who walked out in that protest said: ‘We walk out for those who can’t walk back in.’

200 employees within that office were let go in the recent round of cuts.  

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