former CEO and current chairman is a precious asset for the company and it shows, with Eric Schmidt now getting paid “a lot more than he did when he was running the Internet company,” Associated Press writes. According to a new document filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Google is rewarding the exec with $100 million in restricted stock, on top of a $6 million cash bonus received last year.
This is the second time the exec is receiving a $100 million restricted stock bonus in the three years since he has been replaced at Google’s helm by Larry Page, one of the company’s co-founders. The first batch of restricted stock was awarded to Schmidt soon after Page took over the CEO position, and should vest next year. The new award will be granted on Wednesday, and will vest over a four-year period starting with May 2015.
Essentially, Google is paying Schmidt a considerable amount of money for the exec to stick around as an executive chairman. Schmidt, who has amassed an estimated $8 billion from the stock he either received or bought when he became CEO in 2001, did not have a huge salary and did not receive significant bonuses or stock awards while he was in charge of the Search giant – his salary was capped at $1 for the final six years of his tenure, and annual bonuses did not exceed $2,000 during that time.
