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CEOs’ pay climbed before layoffs at tech giants like Alphabet and Microsoft

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Re: CEOs’ pay climbed before layoffs at tech giants like Alphabet and Microsoft

#31

> Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai was awarded compensation worth more than $225 million in 2022 I know this has been discussed here and 225MM is like the salary of 1000 employees making 200K for only one year, it is stock which is volatoile, that the salary of a CEO is impossible to measure, bla bla bla. But holy guacamole, whatever is the angle I look at it 225MM pear year does not make any f_ing sense to me and it is si…

The claim is that you want the CEO to be aligned with the shareholders, and therefore you incentivize them with high salaries.

Who cares about future shareholders or consequences for that matter when you earn 225MM ? Go move to some country that doesn't tax capital gains, sell it all, and live on 4% of it, which is 9MM per year; live like a king, buy absurd amounts of land and multiply your passive income. Obscene is an understatement.

Re: CEOs’ pay climbed before layoffs at tech giants like Alphabet and Microsoft

#32

> Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai was awarded compensation worth more than $225 million in 2022 I know this has been discussed here and 225MM is like the salary of 1000 employees making 200K for only one year, it is stock which is volatoile, that the salary of a CEO is impossible to measure, bla bla bla. But holy guacamole, whatever is the angle I look at it 225MM pear year does not make any f_ing sense to me and it is si…

[deleted]

Re: CEOs’ pay climbed before layoffs at tech giants like Alphabet and Microsoft

#33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is a very narrow and frankly sweepingly incorrect description of "CEOs" or "companies". They're not all the same. I for one (alongside many other investors) carefully study incentive programs and compensation oversight executed by the board of directors. There are many thoughtful companies (and CEOs) who e.g. align over very long-term targets, such as '5 year return on capital". Investors have found out a long t…

Concurred but... Let's imagine that shareholders agree on a 5 year return on capital plan. Now let's say some missteps/economic circumstances make revenue go down in the 4th year. The CEO will get heat from the investors. This is especially true if the board contains an investor representative who can vote the CEO out. What choice does the CEO have at that time but to boost short term? Look at the same story from an…

Exactly. It's more accurate to say "we look at long term as long as the short term stock price also looks good".

Re: CEOs’ pay climbed before layoffs at tech giants like Alphabet and Microsoft

#34
post #8

CEOs pay is tied to the stock price. They will do whatever it takes to boost the stock price, until they are out with a golden parachute. From their perspective, the business is all about boosting the stock price. It doesn't matter if the boost comes from innovation, or from polluting the planet, or from unscrupulous addictive practices, or from culling the employees. Employees are merely, an often undesired, side-ef…

And frankly layoffs had almost no effect on their stock prices. Announcing new products, even if quite half-baked AI efforts, had much bigger impact on stock prices than layoffs.

> And frankly layoffs had almost no effect on their stock prices. Announcing new products, even if quite half-baked AI efforts, had much bigger impact on stock prices than layoffs.

This is true but you know what? Every action of the CEO is meant for the investors and large shareholders. The layoff is merely a signal that says

"I am willing to do what it takes to give you your return. Buy more shares"

Re: CEOs’ pay climbed before layoffs at tech giants like Alphabet and Microsoft

#35

> Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai was awarded compensation worth more than $225 million in 2022 I know this has been discussed here and 225MM is like the salary of 1000 employees making 200K for only one year, it is stock which is volatoile, that the salary of a CEO is impossible to measure, bla bla bla. But holy guacamole, whatever is the angle I look at it 225MM pear year does not make any f_ing sense to me and it is si…

only 5 or 6?

4k a month is way more than the average person makes in my country, that's 3.84M for 80 years.

225 / 3.84 = 58.59 people

there is no fucking way you can justify that number but oh well, what can you do about it?

Re: CEOs’ pay climbed before layoffs at tech giants like Alphabet and Microsoft

#36

This isn't really a surprise. We've created a society that depends on growth. CEOs sign up for a job where they're responsible for growing a company, so they're obviously the type to value growth and want more for themsleves too – there's not a lot of CEOs who do it out of the goodness of their hearts. The investors, from the board down to individual nameless shareholders, all demand more money every quarter... even…

I don't think this is true for all of us, possibly not even for most people in the US.

I know plenty of people who took lower paying jobs because they valued other things more than "growth": quality of life, family, passion, etc.

I know people who have enough to meet their needs and are not actively working towards having more.

People who retire by "aging in place" who do not care about the value of their home because they have no intention of selling it while they're alive.

Re: CEOs’ pay climbed before layoffs at tech giants like Alphabet and Microsoft

#37
I know for a fact that people in the Csuite of medium size companies can easily make 400k/month total comp (specifically if they’re public companies, but private companies have outrageous paychecks also). Not even talking about the CEO, and not even talking about FAANGs and similar companies. Chances are that the leadership team of your company is making an absurd amount of money.

Re: CEOs’ pay climbed before layoffs at tech giants like Alphabet and Microsoft

#38

CEOs pay is tied to the stock price. They will do whatever it takes to boost the stock price, until they are out with a golden parachute. From their perspective, the business is all about boosting the stock price. It doesn't matter if the boost comes from innovation, or from polluting the planet, or from unscrupulous addictive practices, or from culling the employees. Employees are merely, an often undesired, side-ef…

That is a very narrow and frankly sweepingly incorrect description of "CEOs" or "companies". They're not all the same. I for one (alongside many other investors) carefully study incentive programs and compensation oversight executed by the board of directors. There are many thoughtful companies (and CEOs) who e.g. align over very long-term targets, such as '5 year return on capital". Investors have found out a long t…

>Very long term

>5 years

That is so laughably short sighted that you could not have given a better example as to why CEOs are all the same.

Re: CEOs’ pay climbed before layoffs at tech giants like Alphabet and Microsoft

#39

> Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai was awarded compensation worth more than $225 million in 2022 I know this has been discussed here and 225MM is like the salary of 1000 employees making 200K for only one year, it is stock which is volatoile, that the salary of a CEO is impossible to measure, bla bla bla. But holy guacamole, whatever is the angle I look at it 225MM pear year does not make any f_ing sense to me and it is si…

The claim is that you want the CEO to be aligned with the shareholders, and therefore you incentivize them with high salaries. Who cares about future shareholders or consequences for that matter when you earn 225MM ? Go move to some country that doesn't tax capital gains, sell it all, and live on 4% of it, which is 9MM per year; live like a king, buy absurd amounts of land and multiply your passive income. Obscene is…

Not to mention you can keep CEOs “aligned with shareholders” by firing them if they behave in ways that are misaligned.

Re: CEOs’ pay climbed before layoffs at tech giants like Alphabet and Microsoft

#40
Billionaires are a choice and CEOs earning 225 million while sacking swathes of employees are a choice.

There is relatively little sympathy in these instances though because the laid of people are shockingly rich engineers (by normal people’s standards) but this is how you get a revolution.

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