"The value the person is bringing to Google was never close to $6m, otherwise she would have already been getting that (or close to it)." This is rarely true,

"The value the person is bringing to Google was never close to $6m, otherwise she would have already been getting that (or close to it)." This is rarely true, unfortunately. Salaries are determined when you join a company, before you've had a chance to bring any value to it. After you've joined there's usually just the annual increment to look forward to and maybe some once-off bonuses for exceptional achievements. It's very unusual for salaries to be adjusted otherwise, no matter how much value you've been bringing to a company... unless you indicate that you might be leaving - which is what seems to have happened in this case.