How much is the annual salary for CEO and founder of Google in 2006?

As is well known, Google CEO Eric Schmidt and the two founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, decided in 2005 to adjust their annual salaries to just one dollar. That's right, merely a one-dollar salary. This is also one of Google's most famous anecdotes. You might think that it was just last year that the three bosses were joking around with everyone. In 2003, CEO Eric Schmidt's annual salary was $250,000, and his bonus was $301,000, slightly more than what Sergey Brin and Larry Page received. However, in 2006, these three gentlemen made the same decision again: to continue receiving only a one-dollar salary and no longer take bonuses.

According to Reuters, Google stated in a shareholder proxy filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last Friday that CEO Eric Schmidt and the founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, would continue the policy from 2005 in 2006, which means they will only receive a one-dollar salary. In 2005, Eric Schmidt and Larry Page together received $1,630 in bonuses, while Sergey Brin received $1,723.

Please note, it really is just this small amount. Because the income of these three bosses does not come from the salary or bonuses given by Google, but rather from the exceptionally strong performance of the Google shares they each hold. As the three major shareholders of Google, their personal wealth directly comes from Google's stock. If I'm not mistaken, when Google first went public in August 2004, its initial offering price was $85 per share; now if you check, Google's stock price is $390 per share. It's clear how much wealth the stock has brought them.

It is worth mentioning that Google uses a dual-class stock structure, dividing the stock into A and B classes. The publicly traded A class shares have only one voting right per share, whereas the management holds B class shares that can cast 10 votes. If the company is sold, both classes of stock will have equal rights to dividends and proceeds from the sale. B class shares are not publicly traded but can be converted into A class shares at a 1:1 ratio. Clearly, holding more B class shares means having greater control over Google. CEO Eric Schmidt holds more than 12.4 million B class shares of Google, while founder and Chief Technical Officer Sergey Brin owns 31.6 million B class shares.

Recently, as the deal between Google and AOL draws to a close, Google's stock price continues to rise, making the three bosses even happier this year despite continuing to take only a one-dollar salary and foregoing bonuses altogether.