Google bosses made $1 each in 2008

Another year, another dollar...

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26 March 2009 12:10 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

The top three Google bosses - CEO Eric Schmidt and founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin - took home just a $1 salary each last year.

As has been the case since the company went public in 2004, the trio drew just a dollar each from the coffers of the search engine giant, according to regulatory docs filed in the States.

"Eric, Larry and Sergey have voluntarily elected to receive only nominal cash compensation. Their primary compensation continues to come from returns on their ownership stakes in Google", the company stated in its proxy statement to the SEC.

"As significant stockholders, their personal wealth is tied directly to sustained stock price appreciation and performance, which provides direct alignment with stockholder interests".

Steve Jobs, the Apple CEO is also famous for only getting an annual salary of $1. In comparison Steve Ballmer got $1.4 million while HP boss Mark Hurd pocketed $34 million.

As a company, Google reported revenue of $21.8 billion, a gain of 31% over the previous year while net income grew 0.5% to $4.23 billion, up from $4.2 billion in 2007.