A big news has come out from the tech world and this news has created a stir in the world of technology. Google’s parent company Alphabet has increased the potential salary for its CEO Sundar Pichai for the next three years to $ 692 million, or about Rs 6361 crore in Indian rupees. With this deal, Pichai has become one of the world’s highest earning Chief Executive Officers (CEOs). After all, why has tech giant Google placed such a big bet on its Indian-origin CEO? Let us understand the intricacies of this historic pay package and the concrete reasons behind it.
How big is this new salary package of Sundar Pichai actually and what is its structure?
Google has fixed the maximum possible pay package of Pichai for the next three years at $ 692 million (about Rs 6361 crore). In this, his annual basic salary has been kept at 20 lakh dollars (about Rs 18.38 crore), while the largest part of the package will be received in the form of shares. Even if he doesn’t achieve the company’s goals, he’s still set to receive a baseline amount of $391 million over three years in the form of salary and stock.
Is this entire amount fixed or dependent on performance?
A large part of this package is based on Performance Stock Units (PSU), which has a target value of $ 126 million (about Rs 1158 crore). The value of these shares will be determined based on the returns Alphabet’s shareholders receive compared to other companies in the S&P 100. If the company performs well, this amount can be doubled ($252 million i.e. Rs 2316 crore), and if it lags behind, it can even be zero. Apart from this, he will also get restricted shares worth $84 million (about Rs 772 crore) over the next three years, which will be redeemable every month.
Have any new business related incentives been added to this package?
Yes, a major feature of this deal is its new incentives. For the first time, Google has added stock incentives worth up to $350 million (about Rs 3217 crore) linked to the growth of its self-driving taxi arm ‘Waymo’ and drone delivery start-up ‘Wing’. In this, shares with a target value of $ 130 million (about Rs 1195 crore) for Waymo and $ 45 million (about Rs 413 crore) for Wing Aviation have been kept, which will be decided after three years on the basis of their ‘fair value’ and can pay up to 200 percent on excellent performance.
Why is Pichai being given such a huge package? What are his achievements?
Pichai, 53, of Indian origin, played a key role in developing the Chrome browser and leading the Android division after joining the company in 2004. Alphabet’s board believes that under Pichai’s leadership, Waymo and Wing are making strong progress in the field of autonomous driving and delivery. Additionally, when Pichai took over as CEO in August 2015, Google’s market cap was $535 billion, which grew sevenfold under his leadership to nearly $3.6 trillion (it also crossed $4 trillion in January). Although ChatGPT was initially accused of being slow in Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the time of its launch, it made a strong comeback by successfully integrating cutting-edge AI models into Google’s search engine. Additionally, he managed to steer the company out of the worst consequences of major antitrust (monopoly) lawsuits. Pichai has also successfully handled antitrust cases brought against Google’s search and app store businesses.
How does this package of Pichai compare to other leading tech CEOs of the world?
Pichai’s package of $692 million (maximum of three years) is much bigger than his rivals. In comparison, Microsoft chief Satya Nadella earned a total of $96.5 million in FY2025 (of which $84 million was stock), while Apple boss Tim Cook earned $74.3 million in FY2025.
What is the equation between Pichai’s personal wealth and the founders’ control of the company?
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, 53-year-old Pichai has sold shares worth about $650 million since becoming CEO (recently he sold shares worth $9.8 million). Currently, he and his wife Anjali hold a total of 1.67 million Google shares, which are worth $498 million at Friday’s price. Despite this, real control over the company still rests with its founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who hold 56 percent of the voting power through super-voting Class B shares. This huge salary package of Sundar Pichai shows that Alphabet’s board has full confidence in his leadership. The deal is not only a reward for the company’s seven-fold increase in market value over the past decade, but also an indication of how aggressively the company is betting on the growth engines of the future – especially AI, self-driving taxis and autonomous delivery.
