Google CEO, co-founders stick with US$1 salary

THE three billionaires who run online search leader Google will settle for a US$1 salary again this year.

Four other top executives will receive raises of US$200,000 (S$306,000) each.

It marks the third consecutive year that Google chief executive Eric Schmidt and co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have limited their salaries to US$1.

It is a sacrifice they can afford as they have become rich off their large stakes in Google, whose stock price has more than quintupled from its initial offering price of US$85 in August 2004.

Mr Page and Mr Brin are each worth about US$14 billion, while Mr Schmidt's fortune stands at US$5 billion, according to Forbes magazine.

The salaries of four other Google executives are climbing from US$250,000 last year to US$450,000 this year.

They are Mr Robert Eustace, senior vice-president of engineering and research, Mr Omid Kordestani, senior vice-president of global sales and business development, Mr Jonathan Rosenberg, senior vice-president of product management, and Mr George Reyes, the chief financial officer.

ASSOCIATED PRESS