- Four Google executives will receive a 200% stock dividend based on their performance in 2023.
- This comes amid layoffs and a tumultuous year for the company.
- Google's senior vice president and chief business officer each received $35 million in stock in 2023.
Google's parent company Alphabet has paid tens of millions of dollars in stock dividends to four executives in 2023 based on their performance in the public markets.
Google last week said in a regulatory filing that President and Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat, Senior Vice President Prabhakar Raghavan, Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler, and General Counsel Kent Walker He said he was awarded the maximum number of stock units based on his performance.
Last year's base salaries for the four executives remained at $1 million, and each received $1.5 million in bonuses. The executives also received millions of dollars worth of performance and restricted stock units, but vesting times vary and depend on whether the executives stay put.
Executive stock-based compensation is based on Google's performance relative to the S&P 100 and ranges from 0% to 200% of the target number of shares.
The 200% stock dividend increases Porat and Walker's total compensation in 2023 to $23 million each. Raghavan and Schindler each received $35 million in stock equivalent compensation, according to the filing.
Executive compensation was approved in early February after a tumultuous year for the company.
The tech giant has laid off 12,000 people, or 6% of its workforce, so far last year, and has threatened to lay off even more workers in 2024.
“We have ambitious goals and will invest in big priorities this year. The reality is that we have to make difficult choices to create the capacity for this investment,” said CEO Sundar Pichai. stated in an internal memo in January.
Sentiment within the company has soured due to job cuts and cuts to major projects, BI reported in January. The company's management faced strong backlash from some employees, who publicly expressed their outrage over the firings on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Alphabet's stock price rose 55% last year.
On February 28, Axel Springer, the parent company of Business Insider, joined 31 other media groups in filing a $2.3 billion lawsuit against Google in Dutch court, alleging losses caused by the company's advertising practices. I woke you up.