Google CEO Gets Equity Award of $199 Million

Alphabet Inc. granted Sundar Pichai, chief executive of the company's main Google business, an equity award valued at $199 million, making him one of the world's highest-paid executives.

In a securities filing Friday, Alphabet said it awarded Mr. Pichai 273,328 Class C Google Stock Units on Feb. 3. At that time, the grant was valued at $199 million, though declines in Alphabet shares since put that value at about $182 million now.

The new award vests in quarterly increments over the next four years as long as Mr. Pichai is employed by Alphabet.

The grant lifts the value of Mr. Pichai's equity stake in Alphabet to more than $600 million. That is still well below the stake held by co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and Eric Schmidt, Alphabet's executive chairman who was hired several years after the company started.

However, the award is one of the largest by an American company. In 2011 Apple Inc. awarded Tim Cook a grant valued at $376.2 million when he was named chief executive, succeeding co-founder Steve Jobs.

For 2014, The Wall Street Journal ranked Michael Fries of media company Liberty Global as the highest-paid executive with $112 million in total compensation, including salary, bonuses and long-term awards such as equity grants.

Alphabet's grant appears to be an effort to hold on to Mr. Pichai, who last year took responsibility for businesses that generate about 90% of Alphabet's revenue and an even larger percentage of its profit. He previously built Google's Chrome Web browser business and ran the Android mobile operating system for several years, making him a top recruiting target for rivals.

Write to Alistair Barr at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 08, 2016 15:55 ET (20:55 GMT)

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