Corporate Responsibility? Who Woulda Thunk?

AIG bonuses are paid with taxpayer money from government bailout funds. Much is “recovered” but the damage has been done for the image of big business. Questions are raised about Merrill Lynch bonuses and pay while the embattled investment giant crumbles before the world’s eyes. Needless to say big business and executive pay get a lot of attention these days.

Tired of the bad news? How about a little corporate restraint and responsibility for a change? While not in the investment business Google still deals with a lot of money. In fine American fashion you would expect that the rich simply get richer but at Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt aren’t like most corporate gluttons. As reported in the Courier Mail from Down Under, a proxy statement filed with the SEC shows the three are taking just $1 each per year as their compensation.

Sure these guys aren’t going broke for sure.

Mr Page owns about 29.2 million shares of Google stock while Brin holds 28.6 million shares, making them the firm’s biggest stock holders and giving the duo controlling interest, according to the filing.

Coming in a distant third is that pauper, Schmidt, with a meager 9.4 million shares. How’s a guy to create a legacy on this mere pittance? 

I realize that we don’t need to go overboard and make these gentlemen seem like saints but you have to hand it to them for not taking $1 million per year for their troubles and some spending cash. These guys may actually realize that their wealth is so astronomical compared to 99.999% of the rest of the planet and they probably can’t spend even a portion of their wealth in their lifetime. Do you suspect that they actually get that getting another several million per year won’t make any difference to them but could make a difference to the company and its employees? Wow, now that would be different.

Now for those of you that would like to check up on this, Mr. Schmidt was compensated about $720,000 last year but that related to some travel and security costs. His salary however was just $1. In this day and age where greed is at unprecedented levels and acting irresponsibly regarding money this is rule rather than the exception it’s kind of nice to see these kinds of things can still happen.

One last note, Google closed at $344 per share today. How will they make it?!