Valleywag
$532,755 in personal security expenses
I can understand that Google's Eric Schmidt might be concerned for his safety. He's the chief executive of one of the world's most powerful companies, and no doubt receives his share of correspondence from creepy stalkers. But is the risk to the bespectacled Google boss really more than ten times that faced by Larry Page? Google spent $532,755 on Schmidt's personal security last year; and only $36,795 to protect the Google founder, a sum which also included some transport costs. (Oh, the company also compensated him for the tax he paid for flying family round on a Google-chartered plane.) The expenses are completely out of whack. Assume that stalking is broadly proportionate to the victim's fame. Google Trends, a service which monitors search requests, shows Page is roughly five times more sought than the nominal Google boss. Schmidt might want to boost the founders' expense budgets. Their restraint with company funds — Brin took nothing at all — makes Schmidt look bad: either paranoid, or entitled. Here's the chart:
10:24 AM on Thu Apr 5 2007
By Nick Denton
1,644 views
