Google chief's pay more than doubles in '13

Google Inc Chairman Eric Schmidt’s pay package more than doubled to $19.3 million last year as a new compensation plan reduced the total amounts for three other top executives.

Schmidt’s pay included $11.4 million in stock to correct an administrative error in the calculation and issuance of a 2011 award, according to a filing on Friday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Schmidt also received a $1.25 million salary and a $6 million bonus, the same as in 2012. Last month, Schmidt landed an equity award of $100 million that will vest over four years.

Google, the world’s biggest Internet search engine, is known as one of the more generous Silicon Valley technology companies when it comes to pay. The Mountain View, California- based company has minted numerous millionaires and several billionaires.

Co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are paid $1 a year in salary, with their stakes in Google helping to boost their net worths to $31.1 billion and $30.9 billion respectively, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Google typically gives option awards and non-equity incentive plan compensation in only even-numbered years to its top executives. As a result, Chief Business Officer Nikesh Arora received $5.7 million last year, down from $51.1 million in 2012, when he was the highest-paid executive. Chief Financial Officer Patrick Pichette’s compensation fell to $5.2 million from $38.7 million, and Chief Legal Officer David Drummond received $4.8 million, down from $31.3 million.

Making whole
“For our named executive officers, we determine compensation based on consideration of market data, individual roles, and performance,” the company said in the filing. “To inform our assessment of compensation, we examine potential opportunities available to our named executive officers in the market.”

Salaries remained constant for all of the executives while bonuses varied. The biggest swing was for Arora, whose annual bonus dropped by about two-thirds to $3.5 million. Arora, Pichette and Drummond received between $1.1 million and $1.6 million each in as part a “make whole” effort, the company said.