The pay package awarded to Alphabet Inc. Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai soared to $226 million in 2022, boosted by a triennial stock award valued at $218 million, dwarfing the compensation of many Silicon Valley peers.
His pay compared with $6.3 million the prior year, when he didn’t receive the stock award, according to a filing from the Google parent company Friday. His salary has remained steady at $2 million the past three years.
The stock award comes on a three-year schedule, and Pichai received a similarly sized package in 2019. That year, he was awarded $281 million.
CEO compensation has become a particular touchy topic in the technology industry, especially after a wave of layoffs at Alphabet and other major companies. Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook slashed his 2023 pay after drawing ire for making $100 million each of the past two years.
Pichai’s package put him well above other executives at Alphabet in 2022. Prabhakar Raghavan, the senior vice president of Google’s knowledge and information, and Philipp Schindler, chief business officer, both took in about $37 million. Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat’s compensation was $24.5 million. Their stock grants are given out on an annual basis.
In January, Alphabet started cutting about 12,000 jobs, or 6% of its global workforce, following months of other measures to reduce spending and set new priorities.
