Google employees complain about CEO Sundar Pichai’s salary hike

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Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks on a panel at the CEO Summit of the Americas hosted by the United States Chamber of Commerce on June 9, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. The CEO Summit entered its second day of events with a formal signing for the “International Coalition to Connect Marine Protected Areas” and a keynote address by US President Joe Biden. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Google CEO Sundar Pichai received a hefty pay raise last year, making him one of America’s highest-paid CEOs. Last week, his company announced it was authorizing a $70 billion share repurchase.

Meanwhile, Google’s parent company Alphabet has been aggressively cutting costs, including shedding 12,000 jobs, in response to slowing revenue growth.

That confluence of events has raised the ire of the Google workforce. In the weeks since Pichai’s annual compensation was made public, Google’s internal platforms have filled with conversations and memes criticizing the CEO for taking a pay raise while he cut costs elsewhere. Some employees also criticized the share repurchase, which matched the 2022 repurchase.

SEC filings showed Pichai received a total of $226 million last year, mostly through a $218 million stock award, which he receives every three years. The last time she received the award, in 2019, it was $276.6 million and the total compensation was $280.6 million.

His 2022 package included nearly $6 million for personal safety and a $2 million base salary. In 2021, Pichai received a total of $6.3 million, made up of $2 million in salary and $4.3 million in other compensation.

Memes began circulating comparing Pichai to Apple CEO Tim Cook, who in January received a more than 40% cut from his total expected 2022 compensation. Around the same time, Zoom CEO Eric Yuan said it would cut his salary by 98% and refuse his bonus after the company cut 1,300 jobs. Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson said he would also take a pay cut due to a 17% reduction in the workforce.

More than a dozen employee memes filled Google’s internal discussion forums, many with several hundred likes, according to posts viewed by CNBC. A meme with more than 1,200 likes referred to comments from finance chief Ruth Porat, who wrote in a rare company email last month that the company is making “multi-year” cuts to employee services. CNBC found the cuts ranged from laptops and employee spending to fitness classes and coffee shop items.

“Ruth’s cost savings applied to everyone except our hardworking VPS and CEO,” the meme said.

Google did not provide a recorded commentary for this story.

It’s not the first time Pichai has come under fire for his recent decision-making. In January, PIchai said it took “full responsibility” for the conditions that led to layoffs across the company.

At an all-employee meeting, employees asked Pichai why executives are getting pay cuts if he’s taking responsibility. Pichai responded by saying senior vice presidents are taking “significant reductions to their bonuses” and that he was forgoing his bonus.

Another popular meme featured an image of Shrek Lord Farquaad’s character with the text “Sundar Accepts $226M While Firing 12k Googlers, Cuts Perks & Destroys Morale & Culture”. A character quote said, “some of you may die, but that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.”

In the 2001 computer-animated fantasy, Lord Farquaad is the ruler of Duloc who exiles many fairytale creatures to the swamp.

The topic of Pichai and money has been a contentious one ever since late last year, when the CEO told a company meeting that “we shouldn’t always equate fun with money.” At the time, he was responding to certain benefits the company was eliminating, but avoided questions from employees about executive pay cuts.

Part of the frustration is directed at Google’s plan to buy back $70 billion of stock, a sign the company has more than enough cash to cover its operations and investments. A recent meme that was liked more than 700 times said, “$70 billion in buybacks proves we respect outside shareholders more than Googlers.”

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