An Inside Look at Google’s Millionaire
by Kent Lewis on January 11, 2005UncategorizedSince its August initial public offering, Google has filed documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) detailing the multimillion-dollar stock sales of founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, all the way down to the rank and file. The disclosures have so far affected about 400 of the company’s 3,000 employees, and include documenting one trade of just five shares worth $850.
Employee complaints aren’t exactly piling up about Google’s generous stock grant policies, which have helped create an estimated 1,000 new millionaires, on paper at least. But the SEC filings have struck something of a nerve inside the company by offering an unusually candid look into the wealth of co-workers.
“The whole culture’s really strange when there are two people in the same cubicle and one’s worth $1 million and the other is worth nothing and they both know it,” said one person close to the company.