Sundar Pichai Gets Stock Grant of $199 Million, a Record for Google

Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai received a grant for 273,328 Class C Google stock units, worth about $199 million (roughly Rs. 1,356 crores), according to a regulatory filing by Google parent company Alphabet Inc.

In addition to the February 3 grant for the class C Google stock units, the 43-year-old Pichai on the same day sold 375 Class A common shares at a price of $786.28 each, and sold 3,625 Class C capital stock at a price of $768.84 each, the filing said.

With the move, Pichai is set to become one of the highest-paid executives of publicly-traded US firm this year. The new Class C shares he was awarded will vest in quarterly increments through till 2019, if the Google CEO remains at his appointed position. According to Credit Suisse, the new shares put the value of Pichai's Alphabet holdings at approximately $650 million (roughly Rs. 4,430 crores).

Bloomberg reports that according to its data, the award is the biggest ever given to a Google executive officer. It is also Pichai's first award since he took over as CEO in August 2015. The financial publication also notes the Alphabet filing revealed the company awarded $42.8 million (roughly Rs. 291 crores) in restricted stock to Diane Greene, former CEO of VMware, who is in charge of cloud business since November.

Ruth Porat, CFO of Alphabet, was given $38.3 million (roughly Rs. 261 crores) worth of equity, according to the filing. It equity will vest under the same conditions as Pichai for Porat - in quarterly increments till 2019 if she remains on the job.

Written with agency inputs