Google Has Maybe 900 Millionaires, Some Leaving
The Guardian has an article about rich Google employees leaving, and they say a report quoted Google as having as many as 900 millionaires. Considering that Google has 12,238 employees (as of March 31), and had only 6,790 employees a year ago, that’s a pretty significant percentage. Considering all the employees with “F U” money, or at least “take a risk” money, it’s understandable that many of them would want to quit their jobs and maybe try something new.
Luckily, Google isn’t suffering the brain drain as bad as some other companies with high-flying stock have had in the past, like Microsoft (which created 12,000 millionaires). The reason: For many, working at Google is fun. Maybe the ad sales guys don’t have as fun a time, but Google’s engineers have a lot of opportunity to stay at Google, invest their new wealth, and try their hand at some interesting projects. And if that isn’t good enough, just the perks, like free food and fun activities available on campus, make it worth it even if you don’t need the money.
To some employees, who have enough money they don’t need to worry about their actual job, Google may feel like being at college again. And hey, if you create a great product that really takes off, you might get a Founders Award, and find yourself rich all over again.
what an interesting problem. Google’s “engineer first” is great for keeping talent, but what about building full featured products? It seems that engineers get bored easily, and don’t like to be bothered with matters of company synergy and profitability.
Comment by Hashim | May 1, 2007
SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 1, 2007
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web:…
Trackback by Search Engine Land: News About Search Engines & Search Marketing | May 1, 2007