Insider Today: Analyzing Google salaries
Happy Friday! We've got a new dinosaur, and you know it's a good one when even the paleontologists involved are calling it "bizarre."
In today's big story, we're taking a deeper look at the leaked Google salary data by looking at pay ranges across various factors.
What's on deck:
- Markets: Hedge fund returns are in for August.
- Tech: Silicon Valley doesn't have an innovative culture, according to a high-profile tech exec.
- Business: Read this before you conduct your next performance review.
But first, what's your take home?
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The big story
It's no secret you can make a lot of money working at Google. But exactly how much?
Insider's Rosalie Chan, Hugh Langley, and Madison Hoff have done a tremendous job answering that question. Earlier this summer, the trio authored perhaps the most comprehensive look into Google's pay thanks to an internal salary spreadsheet they viewed.
The sheet detailed 2022 base salaries, equity, and bonuses from over 12,000 Google employees in the US.
Rosalie, Hugh, and Madison dove back into the numbers to analyze pay ranges across levels, locations, races, and gender.
It's worth noting that this data represents only a fraction of Google's workforce in the US. The salary data, which was voluntarily self-reported by employees, also isn't an official Google report.
"This spreadsheet has old, self-reported data that has not been verified and is not an accurate representation of compensation across our workforce," a Google spokesperson said.
I chatted with Rosalie, Hugh, and Madison to take a deeper look at the numbers and highlight some interesting takeaways.
- Google has somewhat closed the gender wage gap. Pay disparity between men and women is a long-standing issue in the broader business world. Google hasn't been immune to this, agreeing to pay $118 million to more than 15,000 employees last year to settle a longstanding lawsuit over gender discrimination and equitable pay. According to the internal doc, the median base salary for women in some roles — sales strategy, enterprise direct sales — was actually higher than their male counterparts. Still, the overall median base salary for women ($165,000) lagged behind men ($172,500).
- But there's still work to be done regarding the racial pay gap. Google employees who identified as being of Black/African descent had a median base salary at least $23,000 below their Asian, White, and Middle Eastern/North African colleagues. The gap didn't improve among software engineers, as those of Black/African descent had a median base salary $24,500 lower than those of white or European descent.
- Location, location, location. It pays to be on the coasts at Google, as that's where employees with the largest reported equity and bonuses were located. The maximum bonus — $605,000 — came from Google's New York office. For equity, the largest reported figure — $1.5 million — came from, perhaps unsurprisingly, the Bay Area.
3 things in markets
Here's how top hedge funds did in August. The dog days of summer were mostly positive performance-wise for large, multi-strategy funds like Citadel, Millennium, and D.E. Shaw. We've got the complete rundown on their August, and year-to-date, returns.
Two charts to make sense of the current market. The ratio between the S&P 500's earnings yield and interest rates indicates how overvalued the stock market is, according to Ned Davis Research. Meanwhile, an analysis by Wall Street Zen on the number of mentions of "AI" and related terms during earnings calls shows how the tech has taken over. And for good reason: Companies that mentioned AI saw shares rise 4.6% on average.
More bad news for SBF. Ryan Salame pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to the downfall of FTX. Salame is the fourth former top exec for the crypto exchange to do so. Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX's cofounder and former CEO, is scheduled to go to trial on fraud and conspiracy charges next month.
3 things in tech
Apple lost $191 billion in market capitalization over two days. Its stock also fell 5.1%, thanks to China reportedly banning government officials from using iPhones for work. Plus, on the same day (Wednesday), the European Commission named Apple as one of six gatekeepers to online services.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman thinks Silicon Valley has lost its innovative culture. "I hate to say this, because it sounds so arrogant, before OpenAI, what was the last really great scientific breakthrough that came out of a Silicon Valley company?" the ChatGPT creator asked.
Investor Ford Smith wants to invest in psychedelic startups. He revealed that's because psychedelics and biohacking helped pull him out of deep depression. Psychedelics are expected to be an $11.29 billion industry by the end of the decade.
3 things in business
More companies are failing as inflation weighs on businesses. August was the 13th month in a row to register an increase in commercial and personal bankruptcies year-over-year.
The common mistakes that managers make that could cost you a promotion. Melissa Phillippi is a VP of organizational development. And she revealed five common mistakes she witnesses, including when managers bring up employee missteps that have already been resolved.
This top Goldman Sachs banker left to help fund women changing healthcare. Sasha Kelemen runs an investment banking team unlike any other on Wall Street. Her team at Leerink Partners lands deals in women's health — a historically underfunded space.
In other news
- "That 70s Show" star Danny Masterson was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
- Software engineers and clinical psychologists are among the 10 most popular high-paying jobs.
- Amazon's former worldwide consumer CEO Dave Clark abruptly resigned from his role as Flexport CEO.
- Within one month of playing for Inter Miami, Lionel Messi drove 288,000 subscriptions to Apple TV+'s MLS season add-on.
- Rescuing an American man trapped over 3,000 feet deep in a Turkish cave could take days.
What's happening today
- All I Want is for Olivia Rodrigo's second album "GUTS" to come out today. The track list of her sophomore album includes the songs "bad idea right," "making the bed," and "love is embarrassing."
- New York Fashion Week kicks off today. Companies — including Ralph Lauren for the first time in four years — will debut their Spring/Summer 2024 collections.
- Earnings today: Kroger and other companies.
For your bookmarks
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The Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, senior editor and anchor, in New York City. Diamond Naga Siu, senior reporter, in San Diego. Hallam Bullock, editor, in London. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York.