Google boss Becomes the highest-paid in US

The chief executive of Google, Sundar Pichai, has been awarded $199m (£138m) in shares, a regulatory filing has revealed. It makes him the highest-paid chief executive in the US.

Mr Pichai became chief executive of the search engine giant following the creation of its parent, Alphabet. The founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, have amassed fortunes of $34.6bn and $33.9bn, according to Forbes. Mr Pichai was awarded 273,328 Alphabet shares on 3 February, worth a total of $199m, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The new award of shares takes Mr Pichai's total stock value to approximately $650m. Mr Pichai's share award will vest incrementally each quarter until 2019. In other words, full control over the shares will pass to him on a gradual basis.