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I don't know why Google has always been so generous with its execs. It's a little club I guess. But when someone is walking out the door, why the need to heap

by romed 8y ago

I don't know why Google has always been so generous with its execs. It's a little club I guess. But when someone is walking out the door, why the need to heap money on them? They're all as rich as anyone already. When Pichette left they converted his _unvested_ options to cash. Why? Why give a guy tens of millions when the theory of executive compensation revolves around retention?

itsdrewmiller 8y ago
From the article it sounds like they care very strongly about those execs not going to work for direct competitors. Gotta provide some kind of consideration for that. While it would be nice to drag these guys through the street a little more, I have to imagine Google is in like the 80th+ percentile of not-evilness by forcing key employees to resign after a single credible complaint.
- DaveWalk 8y ago
  This was my take also. It's a purely business decision: how much is it worth to not have this person work for a competitor? Also dovetails with the statement that lower level employees are dismissed with a little to no severance. Less risk there.
  - dreamdu5t 8y ago
    Its not a business decision, it’s simply the culture of executive management. It’s because they can.
    - gaius 8y ago
      This is why executives go to strip clubs together. So they’ve all got something on each other, so no one betrays their cosy little club.
  - gowld 8y ago
    > How much is it worth to not have this person work for a competitor? Isn't this line of reasoning an antitrust violation?
fixermark 8y ago
The article goes into some details on that. Basically at that level, you're bribing the employee to not bother to file a wrongful termination lawsuit (that they have the resources to execute on, and that will be embarrassing for the company whether or not it succeeds). Incentives are structured around defending the company from that.
samfisher83 8y ago
Pretty much every company is generous with its executives.

by romed 8y ago

itsdrewmiller 8y ago

From the article it sounds like they care very strongly about those execs not going to work for direct competitors. Gotta provide some kind of consideration for that. While it would be nice to drag these guys through the street a little more, I have to imagine Google is in like the 80th+ percentile of not-evilness by forcing key employees to resign after a single credible complaint.

DaveWalk 8y ago
This was my take also. It's a purely business decision: how much is it worth to not have this person work for a competitor? Also dovetails with the statement that lower level employees are dismissed with a little to no severance. Less risk there.
- dreamdu5t 8y ago
  Its not a business decision, it’s simply the culture of executive management. It’s because they can.
  - gaius 8y ago
    This is why executives go to strip clubs together. So they’ve all got something on each other, so no one betrays their cosy little club.
- gowld 8y ago
  > How much is it worth to not have this person work for a competitor? Isn't this line of reasoning an antitrust violation?

fixermark 8y ago

The article goes into some details on that. Basically at that level, you're bribing the employee to not bother to file a wrongful termination lawsuit (that they have the resources to execute on, and that will be embarrassing for the company whether or not it succeeds). Incentives are structured around defending the company from that.

samfisher83 8y ago

Pretty much every company is generous with its executives.