Google was founded by Mr Page and Mr Brin in 1998 when they were students together at California’s Stanford University. Together, they own around 14 percent of its shares and control 56 percent of stockholder voting power. In 2015, Google reorganised its interests into a conglomerate known as Alphabet Inc and named Sundar Pichai as its new CEO, replacing Mr Page – who became Alphabet’s CEO.
Mr Page is believed to be worth over £44billion while Mr Brin’s fortune is estimated at around £42billion.
It may seem surprising to some, then, that the two of them chose to earn an annual salary of $1 per year.
This is because the two of them have such huge stock holdings they could afford to make the symbolic gesture of accepting small paycheque.
It is intended to incentivise performance – as it means an individual’s personal finances are intrinsically linked to the health of the company’s coffers.
Mr Page and Mr Brin’s low salaries suggest they wanted to look out for…
