Google boss and Indian native Sundar Pichai has become America’s top earning CEO after having received a handout of some USD $199 million. Google reorganised itself last year under parent company Alphabet and the payout amounts to 273,328 shares in the new corporation.
The 43-year old was born in Chennai and assumed his current leadership role in October 2015. The news comes just days after Google’s vice president for search – fellow Indian Amit Singhal – announced his retirement from the tech firm, to focus on family and philanthropy.
Reports suggest Mr Pichai’s total stock value in Alphabet now sits around $650 million. It takes him right to the top of the highest paid earners in the United States, according to the list by Forbes.
Co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have a net worth that dwarves even this. Forbes suggest the Google founders are both worth around $34 billion each, and former chief executive Eric Schmidt is said to hold shares in the order of $3 billion.
Other beneficiaries in the latest Google/Alphabet handout include chief financial officer Ruth Porat and cloud computing boss Diane Greene. They received shares worth $38 million and $43 million respectively, on top of joining bonuses and payments for the ownership of previous companies.
Pichai’s career began as a management consultant with successful firm McKinsey and Company. He joined Google in 2004 and led project development on a range of Softwares, including Google’s Chrome browser. Overseeing such successful apps as Gmail and Google Maps, Mr Pichai’s role is seen as instrumental in the company’s continued successes.
Google remains the world’s number one search engine, creating huge revenue from assets including YouTube, Ad Words and Search.
Sky News reports Mr Pichai was seen at the Super Bowl last weekend, having his picture taken with NFL star of the 80s Ronnie Lott.
