Google's Eric Schmidt Gets a Big Time Pay Raise

Posted 04/20/2011 at 8:10am | by Paul Lilly

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It's not often that you end up being paid more for being demoted or stepping down from your position as a high level exec. But for Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google who was recently replaced by Larry Page, his new position as Executive Chairman is a much more lucrative one. To be fair, even a gig flipping burgers at a fast food joint would have been more lucrative than the $1 annual salary he received as CEO, but there's not a fast food chain in the world that would have paid him $1.25 million a year, and that's before bonuses.

According to a document Google filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Schmidt is also eligible to receive a "target bonus of 400 percent of his base salary." As outlined in the filing, "Eric's actual bonus payment for 2011 can range from zero to a maximum of $6 million."

Not a bad pay raise, which is on top of the $100 million in stock and stock options Google gave him when he stepped down. And it's not as though he needs the money (does anyone really need $6 million annually?), as Schmidt ranks No. 136 on Forbes' list of fat cats with a net worth of $7 billion, which is 'only' $1.3 billion less than what Steve Jobs (No. 110 on the list) is worth.

Image Credit: Flickr (World Economic Forum)