Google CEO Admits Economy is “Pretty Dire;” Hands Executives 6-Figure Bonuses

Wednesday, March 4th, 2009 by Andy Beal

Google CEO Admits Economy is “Pretty Dire;” Hands Executives 6-Figure Bonuses

Google CEO Eric Schmidt used Tuesday’s appearance at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference in San Francisco to bluntly describe the economic climate as “pretty dire” and explain how it will affect the world’s largest search engine.

“It obviously will affect the online advertising market because our systems are so tightly tuned. If customers are buying less, it will eventually be reflected in CPCs [cost per click] and CPMs [cost per thousand impressions],” he said. “We are not immune to this.”

Then Google promptly announced 6-figure bonuses for its top executives!

Jonathan Rosenberg, who oversees Google’s products, received the largest bonus at $1.64 million..
Omid Kordestani, Google’s top sales executive, and Alan Eustace, who oversees the company’s engineers, each got bonuses of $1.38 million…
Google gave a $1.24 million to its chief financial officer, Patrick Pichette, for his contributions after joining the company in August…
George Reyes, Google’s CFO before Pichette, received a 2008 bonus of $675,000

While these bonuses were lower compared to 2007, it’s likely little comfort for Google’s investors–who saw their Google stock drop 56% in 2008.

What do you think? Google’s profit rose only 1% this past year, so do these bonuses reflect the hard work put in to achieve this growth, or do you believe Google gave out more than it should have?

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10 comments on “Google CEO Admits Economy is “Pretty Dire;” Hands Executives 6-Figure Bonuses”

21Cardgame Says:

March 4th, 2009 at 9:41 am

Good post
Dean Says:

March 4th, 2009 at 12:08 pm

Unlike bailed out companies, this is Google’s money so what’s the problem with the bonuses?

They pail in comparison to what financial institutions gave out after (or just prior) to receiving public funds. If the shareholders don’t like it, they’ll let GOOG know
Douglas Karr Says:

March 4th, 2009 at 2:12 pm

Bonus structures don’t always reflect profit. For sales executives, a bonus is usually an agreed upon (and sometimes majority of the salary) depending on revenue goals. For product engineers – it could be stability and adoption percentages. Google is a ‘for profit’ entity, so kudos for it running a tight ship and rewarding its employees.

Douglas Karr’s last blog post..You Should Be in This Search Engine Results Page
The Changing Face of Search: Is Google Losing its Grip? | Search Engine People | Toronto Says:

March 5th, 2009 at 10:17 am

[...] you can see, it’s not just because of the economy that Google stock lost a whopping 56 percent in [...]
SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources » Blog Archive » The Changing Face of Search: Is Google Losing its Grip? Says:

March 5th, 2009 at 1:56 pm

[...] you can see, it’s not just because of the economy that Google stock lost a whopping 56 percent in [...]
The Changing Face of Search: Is Google Losing its Grip? | IsAWebmaster.com | Webmaster News and Tips Says:

March 6th, 2009 at 3:49 pm

[...] you can see, it’s not just because of the economy that Google stock lost a whopping 56 percent in [...]
The Changing Face of Search: Is Google Losing its Grip? | Webmaster Market News Says:

March 8th, 2009 at 7:26 am

[...] you can see, it’s not just because of the economy that Google stock lost a whopping 56 percent in [...]
The Changing Face of Search: Is Google Losing its Grip? | Jared Deschner - Freelance Internet Consultant in Calgary, Alberta Says:

March 9th, 2009 at 12:46 pm

[...] you can see, it’s not just because of the economy that Google stock lost a whopping 56 percent in [...]
The Changing Face of Search: Is Google Losing its Grip? Says:

March 23rd, 2009 at 8:33 pm

[...] you can see, it’s not just because of the economy that Google stock lost a whopping 56 percent in [...]
The Economy Says:

April 2nd, 2009 at 1:30 pm

Wow, with the financial crisis and all, I’m glad we still have the internet. There’s so much to learn. Thanks alot, I’ve added your feed

The Economy’s last blog post..Weekly Roundup – Self Promotion Edition

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