Mocked by his employees for getting a substantial raise when his company laid off 12,000 employees, the Google chairman and CEO has been compared to the villain of the animated film Shrek.
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“Sunday [Pichai] Accept $226 million while laying off 12,000 Googlers, cutting welfare and destroying morale and culture […]. Some of you may die, but I’m willing to sacrifice that,” Google employees reportedly shared, along with a picture of Lord Farquaad to reference the Shrek villain’s famous quote.
At least that’s what CNBC reported on Wednesday, after Google’s internal platforms were inundated with comments and “memes,” humorous images, in response to CEO Sundar Pichai’s substantial pay rise.
The latter reportedly received a salary of $226 million (CA$302 million) last year, made up largely of a $218 million stock bonus.
Aside from that, Google’s parent company Alphabet reportedly laid off 12,000 employees during the same period and cut many employee services, including access to laptops, fitness and cafe items, over several years, CNBC reported.
Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat made the announcement in one of the few emails sent to all employees.
“Ruth’s cost savings applied to everyone… except […] to our hard-working CEO,” another employee reportedly quipped over a post that reportedly garnered more than 1,200 “likes,” according to CNBC.