Google is a company known for taking some financial risks and finding new ways to surprise its users and customers (Just like it did with the recently announced Project Fi). Today Google has just surprised everyone with some information, which dates back to last year, has just come to light. Eric Schmidt, Google’s Executive Chairman, has spent an incredibly high amount of money in personal flights. According to the Internet giant’s recently released proxy filing, Eric Schmidt received a $108.7 million annual salary, in which was included a $672,400 compensation for said personal use of jets. Google’s proxy filing described the use of the aircraft as transportation for guests to attend a conference. It is currently unclear if this was a Google-hosted conference or if it was one organized by Eric Schmidt each year in the United States.
$672,400 is an incredibly high amount of cash for a single flight, even if it was a private jet, the sum is a ridiculous one. According to someone with some experience in this area, there is no way a single flight can cost that amount of money. In fact, the specialist stated that the $672,400 wasn’t just for one flight, but for multiple ones headed for the same conference. This was reportedly a conference that Google’s Executive Chairman, Eric Schmidt organizes himself every year to which attendance was rather elevated, more than in previous years; Still, this is not completely safe to assume, as it could also be a Google conference which would explain the higher attendance.
It is not the first time that Google has paid one of its executive employees for benefits of this kind, it is usual for most major companies to pay for things like security, hotels, and flights; But it is completely unusual for one to pay such a sum of money to a single executive. Back in 2013 Google also paid for Eric Schmidt’s aircraft related expenses, but the quantity was much lower at $61,706, while in 2012 Schmidt only spent $14,018 on flights. The amount of money Schmidt has been spending on aircraft is increasing exponentially with each passing year. Google might not be as pleased with this kind of charges if they continue to increase, and who knows what will the company’s next proxy filing will reveal.