Google's founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin earned salaries of just $1 last year, documents have revealed.
The pair, who built up the internet giant from their dormitory room at Stanford University in the late 1990s, drew only nominal wages from the company in 2006. Statements filed with the US securities and exchange commission show that Google's chief executive, Eric Schmidt, also took a salary of just $1.
It is the third year in a row that the trio have taken basic salaries. Their bank managers will be consoled, however, with the news that their shares are now worth five times more than when Google floated on the stock market two and a half years ago.
The three men have been converting some of their holdings into cash by regularly selling some of their stockholdings.
On the back of continuing strong performance - the shares are now more than $470 - Mr Brin (33) and Mr Page (34) are worth an estimated $14 billion (€10.4 billion) each. Their wealth last month placed them at 26 in Forbes magazine's ranking of America's richest people.
Mr Schmidt, who joined the company in 2001, is worth $5 billion, giving him the lowly position of 116th in the same league.
The trio, who "run Google as a triumvirate" according to the financial documents, also drew holiday bonuses of $1,723 each last year. In addition, Mr Page received further bonuses of $38,519, while the 52-year-old Mr Schmidt received bonuses of $555,742 to cover personal security and travel costs.
Executives further down the chain were rewarded with less altruistic salaries, with some other members of the board earning in excess of $2 million.
The figures come after a busy year at the Silicon Valley company. After a much-criticised entry into the Chinese market - later described by Mr Brin as "a net negative" because of controversy over internet censorship - Google rounded off 2006 with the $1.65 billion acquisition of the video-sharing website YouTube.
The Google trio are part of a wider trend among US executives who link their income to the performance of the companies they steer.
