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Google founders and chief executive were paid token salary of 50p each
SEARCH engine Google paid its top three executives a token 2006 salary of 50 pence each for the third year running, and bonuses of $1,723 (£874) apiece, according to the company's annual proxy filed this week.
The pay package belies the wealth of co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin and chief executive Eric Schmidt, who together own two-thirds of the voting stock of Google, which has a market capitalisation of nearly 76.2bn.
In the filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the Web search leader said Schmidt received further compensation for $532,755 (270,000) for personal security. The report did not detail the nature of the security costs.
Another $22,456 (11,386) went to offset taxes on aircraft chartered for Schmidt for Google business where family or friends flew along, it said.
Page received other compensation of $33,195 (16,832) for transportation, logistics and personal security during personal travel and $3,600 (1,826) for personal travel using rental vehicles.
The three had requested during the second quarter of 2004 – in the run-up to Google's initial public offering – that the company cut their salaries to $1. The spectacular success of Google turned each of them into billionaires.
Previously, both Brin and Page had been paid a salary of $150,000 (76,060) a year while Schmidt received $250,000 (126,783) in salary.
Page held Google shares worth $29.2bn, or 28.2 per cent of the voting share of the company. Brin owned Google shares worth $28.6bn, or 27.7 per cent of voting shares.
Schmidt, who joined the start-up in 2001, three years after its founding, owned shares worth $10.7bn, or 10.3 per cent of the voting power of the company, according to the proxy. The figures reflect the value of holdings as of March 1.
Google, which employs almost 8,000 people worldwide, snapped up YouTube Inc for 1.65 billion dollars (88m) last year.
The all-stock acquisition united one of the Internet's leading companies with one of its rapidly rising stars and catapulted Google to a leading role in the online video revolution. The price makes YouTube – a still unprofitable start-up – by far the most expensive purchase made by Google during its eight-year history.
It is estimated that Larry Page and Sergey Brin have made 13 million US dollars (7m) a day, each, over the past two years.
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