Tech giant is rewarded with very fat salaries Google its Managing Director, Sadar Pichai, at the same time that he is moving to massive job cuts to save costs. With last year’s earnings, Pichai is considered one of the highest paid in his position in United States. And last week, his company announced the approval of a $70 billion share buyback program, to worrisome employees. Meanwhile, Alphabet, Google’s parent company, is aggressively cutting costs, including cutting 12,000 jobs, in response to slowing revenue growth.

This turn of events angered Google employees. In the days after the CEO’s annual income was released, Google’s internal platforms were buzzing with chatter and “memes” against him. Through them, employees criticize him for overpaying, while in other areas he rushes to cut costs, as reported in a report by the American news network CNBC. Some officials also criticized the share buyback, which was equivalent to a corresponding move in 2022.

Fire from the company’s employees, which contrasts with the cuts taken by his colleagues at Apple and Zoom.

Related filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission revealed that Sadar Pichai received a total of $226 million last year, mostly from a $218 million cash bonus he receives every three years. The last time he received a similar bonus was in 2019 in the amount of about $276.6 million, for a total compensation of $280.6 million. His pay package in 2022 included nearly $6 million in personal insurance and a base salary of $2 million. In 2021, the Google CEO received a total of $63 million.

In comments circulating on internal platforms, Pichai compared himself to peers like Apple’s Tim Cook, who received more than 40% of his total compensation in January – a 2022 target. And the head of meeting platform Zoom, Eric Yuan, said his pay was being cut by 98% and he would not receive a bonus after the company cut 1,300 jobs.

The “meme,” which has over 1,200 likes, refers to comments by CFO Ruth Porat. In a rare email, she revealed that the company has been cutting employee benefits for “multi-year” periods. CNBC found cuts ranged from laptops to fitness classes to coffee supplies. “Ruth’s cost savings extend to everyone… except our hard-working CEO,” the meme reads.

Finally, Pichai has been criticized on other occasions as well, such as in January when he said he took “full responsibility” for the conditions that led to layoffs at the company. Employees asked him why executives had to take pay cuts after he took office, and he replied that Google’s senior vice presidents were receiving “significant cuts in their bonuses” and that he had resigned.