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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

#51

> 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…

That makes sense to you and me but...if the world were only populated by people who were happy to just have enough to live a comfortable life as soon as they could, or even a very rich life as soon as they could cash out, then we would not have half the insanity we do today. And Sundar Pinchai and other CEOs could have quit a long time ago if they wanted to do that. If I were in the place of ANY CEO today of Google, Microsoft, Facebook, of course I would quit immediately with far LESS money and do something else....but they don't, speaking of the incredible pathology that lies within them.

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

#52
post #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.

[deleted]

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

#53

> 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…

Google is a $1.6T company. For a guy that runs it to earn $200 M a year is basically nothing. Can he do good enough of job? Great, he's then definitely worth it (and, actually, he's worth much more).

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

#54

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…

The treadmill is entirely opt-in. Why do you participate? Your profile says that you are a founder.

Because you can both participate in society and be critical of it at the same time. I am a founder, but we've worked hard to focus on profitability and staying healthy. I started a company because I wanted a place where people could feel safe, do good work, and as much as possible not worry about the things I detailed.

(I also don't think it's opt-in. If everyone around you makes more money and you don't, you have decreasing buying power. You need to grow just to stay neutral.)

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

#55

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…

I disagree with pretty much everything you say except this. >Employees are merely, an often undesired, side-effect in the business of boosting stock prices. Employees are worse than a side effect, they're a cost center to be avoided if possible. You want to achieve your goals with as few employees as possible.

If you're a middle manager, what is your goal? Is it to have as few reports below you, or as many?

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

#56
I'm tired of capitalism.

The less it's regulated, the more it opens the road to planned economy or tightly managed socialism.

I'm glad I live in Europe. At least I can just retreat from this system with welfare and still eat and have a roof.

Every time alternatives to capitalism are brought up, every time people come and say Stalin was worst than Hitler. It's impossible to discuss change or alternatives.

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

#57

> 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…

225MM is not salary. It is stock compensation based on performance.

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

#58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

You can't move countries to avoid capital gains.

What often happens is that corporation in high tax country has subsidiary in low tax country that they find a way to funnel profits too.

Not sure on details myself. It has to be done just right.

I believe Ireland and the Netherlands are often host countries.

Now this is different than money laundering, which is big time illegal, of course.

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

#59
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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".

Do you all not understand that the stock price reflects the long term prospects of the company? It’s literally priced in

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

#60

> 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…

I guess the counterargument would be that the $225MM is imaginary money - he doesn’t actually make that much until he cashes out and cashing out at the wrong times is what we should actually condemn.

That said, the rules for stock, stock ownership, and splits are all made up on the fly anyway so I don’t want to defend any of this. Stock dilution in particular seems like legal theft.

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