Google (GOOG)

Base Salary

We view named executive officer base salaries as a tool that provides executives with a reasonable base level of monthly income relative to the jobs they are doing and market-competitive salaries. In 2004, Eric, Larry and Sergey requested that their salaries each be reduced to $1 per year. However, due to their strong leadership and Google’s strong overall performance, we offered each of them market-competitive salaries at the beginning of each year since 2005. Due to their own preferences not to receive salary compensation, Eric, Larry and Sergey each rejected these offers and continue to receive base salaries of $1.

We establish base salaries for our other named executives based on the scope of their responsibilities, market data and internal equity. We review salaries at least annually and may adjust them from time to time if needed to reflect changes in market conditions. Although we generally differentiate salaries by role and by individual for most positions at Google, we have continued to maintain the same salaries for the named executive officers other than Eric, Larry and Sergey due to the similar scope of their overall organizational leadership responsibilities across Google. To determine salary recommendations for each executive, our CEO reviews the market data discussed above with Larry and Sergey and makes a recommendation to the LDC Committee or the full board of directors (as outlined in our charter) for review and final approval.

In the first quarter of 2008, the LDC Committee and board of directors reviewed our named executive officers’ base salaries, other than Eric, Larry and Sergey, and decided it was appropriate to maintain salaries at $450,000.

Base Salary

We view named executive officer base salaries as a tool that provides executives with a reasonable base level of monthly income relative to the jobs they are doing and market-competitive salaries. In 2004, Eric, Larry and Sergey requested that their salaries each be reduced to $1 per year. However, due to their strong leadership and Google’s strong overall performance, we offered each of them market-competitive salaries at the beginning of each of 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. Due to their own preferences not to receive salary compensation, Eric, Larry and Sergey each rejected these offers and continue to receive base salaries of $1.

We establish base salaries for our other named executives based on the scope of their responsibilities, market data and internal equity. We review salaries at least annually and may adjust them from time to time if needed to reflect changes in market conditions. Although we generally differentiate salaries by role and by individual for most positions at Google, we have continued to maintain the same salaries for the named executive officers other than Eric, Larry and Sergey due to the similar scope of their overall organizational leadership responsibilities across Google. To determine salary recommendations for each executive, the CEO reviews the market data discussed above with Larry and Sergey and makes a recommendation to the LDC Committee for review and then to the board of directors for final approval.

In the first quarter of 2007, the LDC Committee and board of directors unanimously approved an increase in the salary of each of our named executive officers, other than Eric, Larry and Sergey, from $250,000 to $450,000. In increasing these salaries, we considered the factors discussed in the Elements of Compensation section.