Google Inc., the most-used Internet search engine, will give cash bonuses of up to $3 million to executives that are linked to annual sales and profit goals.
The bonuses will be available to all executives excluding Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt and Presidents Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google said today in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The cash bonuses come as Google's stock price stalls. Shares of the Mountain View, California-based company are little changed this year after more than doubling in 2005. The company said bonuses will be linked to the performance of each individual as well as the company's overall financial performance.
The plan is "designed to motivate participants to achieve our financial and other performance objectives, and to reward them when those objectives are met,'' Google said in the filing.
Shares of Google fell $3.89 to $411.81 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading.
Executives participating in the plan will need to be approved by the board of directors, Google said. No one is automatically entitled to receive bonuses, the company said.