Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) chairman, Eric Schmidt has been awarded a $6 Million (£4m) cash bonus for 2012. For fiscal 2012, company posted record revenues of $50 billion but was criticized for its US tax arrangements. Schmidt will be receiving the payout on March 15 as an incentive, according to Google’s regulatory filing on Tuesday.
The chief legal officer of Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has also been rewarded a $3.3 million cash bonus as stated by Google. Patrick Pichette, Google’s chief financial officer, and Nikesh Arora, chief business officer will be awarded $2.8m in cash each. Google’s leadership development and compensation committee has given approval for these payouts. The committee is chaired by former Intel chief executive Paul Otellini.
Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) reported record revenue of $50 billion for 2012 with annual revenues surging by 36 percent. The profit for Google came in at $2.89 billion in the last quarter of 2012, increase from $2.71 billion from the previous fiscal.
Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), however, was thrashed by the MPs along with the other companies like Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) for their tax arrangements in the United Kingdom. Google lawfully used the tax haven of Bermuda for £6bn of transactions, while paying just £6m in corporation tax in the UK, in 2012. Schmidt stated that Google will follow any tax changes imposed by the UK. He said that Google’s follows a tax strategy of paying taxes according to the tax regime.
It is a well known fact that Schmidt hardly needs any cash incentive, after owning a massive stake in Google, which is worth more than $6 billion after the Stock’s recent upside rally. Schmidt is seeking to sell about 42 percent of those shares over the course of this year.
After stepping down as CEO two years back, Schmidt took a new role and responsibility of focusing on Google’s relationship with Governments all over the world including the United States.
The Search engine giant has recently closed an antitrust dispute with the Federal Trade Commission that could have significantly affected its business. Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) settled the case with a surprisingly light agreement.
The company had a robust year with financials and also after settling down the antitrust matter, and this can be reflected in the bonus, which are given to the top line executives. In total, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) will pay roughly $15 cash bonus to its four executives. Those not getting bonuses are Sergey Brin and Larry Page.
