Google CEO Sundar Pichai made $226 million in 2022

() — Google’s chief executive took home quite a bit of money last year.

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, Google’s parent company, made nearly $226 million in 2022, according to a new presentation from Alphabet.

Most of the pay came from stock stakes, valued at more than $218 million. The rest of the compensation came from a base salary of $2 million and more than $5 million for a private security detail.

It’s a big increase for Pichai, who earned just over $6 million in 2021 and $7.4 million in 2020.

Pichai’s stock increases come every three years, in 2019 he received a similar package of $281 million.

Alphabet shares, meanwhile, fell 39% in 2022 amid a broader technology and market slowdown. Shares have rallied this year, rising about 19.5% since January.

Other top executives also received substantial salaries in 2022, though nowhere near as high as Pichai’s. Prabhakar Raghavan, Google’s SVP of Insights and Information, and Philipp Schindler, Google’s chief commercial officer, each earned $37 million. Ruth Porat, the chief financial officer of Google and Alphabet, and Kent Walker, the legal director, raised about $24.5 million each.

In January, Alphabet announced that it would cut 12,000 jobs, representing a 6% cut in its total workforce. The average salary of an Alphabet employee is slightly less than $280,000, according to the report. This means that Pichai’s salary is more than 800 times higher.

Someone earning the $15.50 minimum wage in California, Alphabet’s home state, would have to work 14.6 million hours, or just over 7,000 years (with 40-hour work weeks and no time off). to reach Pichai’s salary in 2022.

Increasing CEO compensation has been a controversial topic in recent years.

The salary of top executives has skyrocketed 1460% since 1978, according to a study by the Economic Policy Institute, and more than 80% of their pay is typically stock-related.

“This escalation of CEO pay and executive pay in general has fueled income growth for the top 1% and 0.1%, leaving less of the gains from economic growth for ordinary workers and widening the gap between the very highest incomes and the bottom 90%,” the institute’s analysts wrote. “The economy wouldn’t suffer any damage if CEOs were paid less (or if they were taxed more).”

Apple CEO Tim Cook reduced his own pay from 2023 by 40% after receiving criticism from shareholders for earning $100 million in 2022 and 2021.

The vast majority of Cook’s remuneration for 2022 – around 75% – was tied to company shares, and half depended on the evolution of the share price.

Shareholders voted against Cook’s salary package after Apple shares fell nearly 27% last year. The vote is not binding, but the board’s compensation committee said Cook requested the reduction.

“The compensation committee considered shareholder feedback, Apple’s exceptional performance and a recommendation from Mr. Cook to adjust his compensation in light of feedback received,” the company said in its annual proxy statement released Thursday.