I think
200 k base + 100 k google stocks
Is worth same as
200 k base + 100 k cash bonus
anyone can always buy google stocks with their cash. I know for employees it’s kind of forced investment and in case of Mag7 have helped their returns but that could easily be other way around.
Technically, yes.
Practically, CHF 200k base and CHF 100k bonus is CHF 300k cash in your account that does not fluctuate.
However, CHF 200k base and (let’s assume) CHF ~100k stocks at vesting time is CHF 200k cash in your account that does not fluctuate but CHF ~100k income that you owe taxes on but that at least for a little while has (stock) market and FX risk.
If you don’t enroll into auto-selling, your stock worth whatever it is in USD at vesting time will have market risk until you sell. Might be up 5%, might be down 40%.
Even if you enroll for auto-selling (vested stock is sold the day it vested), you’re now sitting on USD cash that you have to transfer from your (then) US JP Morgan account to your Swiss account, convert it into CHF, which introduces at least a couple of days of FX risk.
The hardships of a Googler life, I know I know.
I’ve btw in the mean time watched the referenced movie linked on the MP site post and was happy to recognize Florence. We hadn’t worked together (I think), but I recall seeing her face a couple of times, probably at lunch, and because of her red hair.
She also did quite the geo-arbitrage move within Google: start as a contractor in Ireland (where salaries were shitty, but it was easier to get into Google as a contractor), convert to employee and move to Zurich where Googler salaries were the highest.
Pretty sure it’s only in Zurich where she was able to accumulate her nest egg.
Anyway, good for her.
She played the game to its fullest extent and won. Blame the game, regulate it into a shape you like more but still, congrats to the players who understood where the levers were and did the moves to take advantage of it.
Yeah, man … I dunno … feels like she unfairly chipped away from Sundar’s USD 100M comp (or is 250M now?) … isn’t he the one who really deserves all of it?
</sarcasm>
Since we’re on the topic of base comp, bonus and stock comp: Sundar’s base salary is a modest low double digit USD M amount, I have no clue what his bonus is, but the stock based comp is where all the juice lies.
Just like with every other employee.
</sarcasm2>
I’ll see myself out.
Now you got it! 
(I couldn’t find a redhead gif for you, sorry, a blonde will have to do.)
