Sundar Pichai, Alphabet Inc.’s CEO, could potentially earn $692 million (₹6,200 crore) from a three-year equity compensation plan just approved by the company. A large part of the package ties into how well Alphabet performs with its new technologies and the company’s overall stock performance, according to filings referenced in financial reports. 

WOAH! Those are some huge numbers right there. 

“Isme se kuch aurrrrr zero nikaal do,” 3 Idiots scene is coming to our minds, guys! 

On a serious and non-pity wala note, this demonstrates the trend among large tech companies to tie executive compensation to the company’s long-term growth and innovation milestones, instead of primarily using fixed salaries.

Alphabet’s compensation plan is a three-year cycle based on predominantly equity incentives. According to an SEC filing, Alphabet provided details identifying that Pichai’s potential compensation varies based on new Alphabet ventures’ performance during that three-year period.

Although the total payment could reach $692 million, none of the payment is guaranteed. (Batao, kisi ki salary guaranteed nahi hoti kya, laxman?) 

Instead, the majority of the compensation is tied to various performance metrics or valuation increases across Alphabet’s various experimental businesses.

Pichai may receive full payment at the end of three years if certain target benchmarks are met. Current valuation of the total compensation (assuming exchange rate at approximately ₹91 per dollar) is close to ₹6,200 crores.

That’s math I can’t even do!

Incentives associated! Let’s talk 💴 

A significant portion of the executive compensation plans is directly tied to the performance of other experimental, or “other bets”, businesses of Alphabet Inc., which started as internal innovation efforts and have recently evolved into independent business ventures.

Among the important ventures tied to the executive compensation plan are:

• Waymo, which is a manufacturer of self-driving cars

• Wing, which provides drone delivery service

In the filing of the executive compensation plan, the Board of Directors of Alphabet Inc. stated that “incentivizing Mr. Pichai to focus his efforts on developing and scaling Alphabet’s later stage Other Bets, such as Waymo and Wing, would benefit the company and its stakeholders.”

Waymo

The compensation plan has its largest incentive related to the growth in valuation of the Waymo company (self-driving technology).

Waymo is now a robotaxi business that operates in multiple cities in the USA, but it started as a research project focused on autonomous vehicle technology at Google in 2009. According to reports, Waymo has already driven over 200 million miles with their autonomous vehicle fleet on public roads.

WOAH! 

Waymo expanded its commercial robotaxi services into several markets in 2026, including cities like Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando. If Waymo’s valuation does increase significantly during the next three years, then Sundar Pichai will receive stock-based compensation up to $260 million.

The Alphabet Compensation Committee will set the company’s valuation at the end of the performance cycle to calculate any payout.

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Wing

Another part of the granted performance-based award is based on Wing’s performance, an Alphabet business with drones delivering purchased items.

Wing started as a project in Alphabet’s experimental innovation approach in 2012, but became an independent subsidiary of Alphabet in 2018. This company is working on delivery by autonomous drones directly to consumers.

Reports show Wing has been quickly growing its operations and developing relationships with big box retailers across the country. Recently, the company announced its plans to expand its delivery network with over 270 storefronts run by Appa or Partner establishments.

Wing is flying and how bruh! 

Pichai’s compensation package includes equity units connected to Wing which can amount to as much as $90M depending on how Wing Valuation evolves over the next three years.

The majority of Pichai’s compensation is composed of stock-based incentives.

In addition to Waymo and Wing and stock units based on Alphabet’s returns compared to other companies in the S&P 100 index, Pichai receives performance stock units from Alphabet that go up or down based on comparing Alphabet’s stock price vs. all other stocks in the S&P 100 index. If Alphabet’s stock outperforms other stocks, the total value of these units may be worth up to $252 million.

Additionally, the total compensation package includes $84M of time-based equity that will only be earned if Pichai continues to lead the company during the full three-year period of his compensation plan.

Even though there is a tremendous amount of potential earnings available to be earned by Pichai, his base salary is relatively low compared to similar jobs within technology companies in the Valley, since his base salary is $2M/year, and has never changed since 2020.

Woah, that was kind of underwhelming to hear, haan? 

Most Technology Leaders receive most of their compensation through stock-based performance Compensation tied to the company’s performance and long-term growth.

Jahan aisi baatein aa jati hai, wahan hum baat hi nahi karte laadle.

The Approach to Performance-Related CEO Pay

Alphabet established an executive compensation structure designed to reward continued innovation and growth in their new technology businesses.

The goal of tying exec compensation to the performance of projects such as Waymo and Wing is to provide incentives for leaders to scale projects that may determine the future of transportation, logistics, and autonomous technology.

If any of these projects become profitable businesses on their own, Alphabet will benefit tremendously from this on a long-term basis.

It is legit technologi-fication of “taali ek haath se nahi bajjti.”

Reddit reacts 🤣🤣🤣

The discussion about the potential INR 6200 Crores package for the CEO is happening all over social media, because well, kaam karna bhot mushkil hai aur mazaak udaana aasaan.

(Isliye hum mazaak hi udaate hain). 

There are many comments regarding the fact that compensation packages like this are not surprising in the technology industry since they involve lots of stock options compared to salaries.

Many commenters state, “On one hand, they earned it; he is who he is and where he is based solely on his own efforts and hard work.”

Others wrote things like, Why doesn’t Alphabet just replace him with Al?” while another replied “How do you know he is not Al?” 

Many others are gushing about executive compensation and pay in the technology setting, noting that compensation packages for executives are directly correlated with sharing the value of decisions made by these leaders as they pertain to long-term value to shareholders.