Exec Pay At HP, Google Differs DrasticallyExec Pay At HP, Google Differs Drastically

The idiosyncrasies of Silicon Valley financial remuneration were on full display this week with the revelation that Hewlett-Packard's chief executive Mark Hurd received a salary of $5.95 million for the firm's last fiscal year. At the same time, the three top executives of Google received $1 each and agreed to the same salary again this year.

No one is complaining about Hurd's remuneration, because HP's stock is up nearly 60 percent since he took the reins of the firm in April. In addition to the $816,667 salary and a $5.13 million bonus, Hurd was awarded $8.68 million in restricted stock as well as options. The total financial package came to $24.4 million.

While the Google execs, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, and Eric Schmidt, turned down large salaries, their stock holdings are their rewards. Founders Brin and Page each lost more than $1 billion on paper when the stock market tanked last week. They appeared to be well on their way back, however, as the market began recovering this week.

An HP regulatory filing noted that former CEO Carly Fiorina received $22.3 million last year.