I believe what they effectively did was receive their salary upfront. for example: 3 people x 5 years guaranteed loyalty = $45 mio => $3 mio per person per y

I believe what they effectively did was receive their salary upfront. for example: 3 people x 5 years guaranteed loyalty = $45 mio => $3 mio per person per year, paid upfront That's still high, but not that much higher than what Google already pays to top performers. Plus they get all the PR benefits, as we have seen.