Ruth Porat
President and Chief Investment Officer at GOOGL
Executive
About Ruth Porat
Ruth M. Porat is Alphabet’s President and Chief Investment Officer (since September 2023) and previously served as CFO of Google (from May 2015) and Alphabet (since October 2015). She holds a BA from Stanford University, an MSc from the London School of Economics, and an MBA from Wharton . Her current remit includes corporate investments (GV, CapitalG), Other Bets portfolio, Real Estate and Workplace Services, infrastructure, and global policy engagement .
Past Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Senior Vice President & CFO | May 2015–Sep 2023 | Led finance and operations; transitioned Alphabet to salary + equity-focused executive pay; oversaw dividend equivalents introduction (2024) | |
| Alphabet | CFO | Oct 2015–Sep 2023 | CFO of parent post-Alphabet creation; signatures indicate CFO + later President & CIO roles |
| Alphabet | President & Chief Investment Officer | Sep 2023–present | Responsible for corporate investments (GV, CapitalG), Other Bets, Real Estate & Workplace Services, infrastructure; global policy engagement |
| Morgan Stanley | Executive Vice President & CFO; Vice Chair IB; Global Head FIG; Co‑Head Tech IB | Prior to 2015 | Senior leadership spanning finance and investment banking |
External Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blackstone Inc. | Director | Jun 2020–present | Board oversight; annual director equity retainer and units outstanding disclosed |
| Council on Foreign Relations; Bloomberg Philanthropies; Memorial Sloan Kettering | Board memberships | Current | Policy, philanthropy, healthcare strategy |
| Stanford University/Stanford Management Company | Former Trustee; Board member | ~10 years | Endowment and university governance |
Fixed Compensation
- 2015: Base salary $650,000; $5,000,000 sign‑on bonus at appointment as Google CFO .
- 2025: Base salary $1,000,000 (included in annualized cash compensation) .
- 2024: SVP Bonus program targeted $2,000,000 (discontinued for 2025; shifted into PSU target value) .
| Year | Base Salary ($) | Target Bonus ($) | Actual Bonus Paid ($) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 650,000 | — | 5,000,000 (sign‑on) | Inducement cash; equity remains primary incentive |
| 2024 | — | 2,000,000 (SVP Bonus target) | — | SVP Bonus applied to NEOs in 2024 |
| 2025 | 1,000,000 | — | — | SVP Bonus discontinued; value shifted to PSUs |
- 2025 Annualized target total compensation: $27,000,000 for Ruth Porat .
Performance Compensation
- Equity instruments: Google Stock Units (GSUs) and Performance Stock Units (PSUs) .
- PSU metric: Relative total shareholder return (TSR) vs S&P 100 over 2025–2027; payout range 0%–200% of target with linear interpolation between specified percentiles; cliff vesting December 31, 2027 (continued employment required) .
2025 Awards (approved Feb 28, 2025)
| Instrument | Target Value ($) | Shares Granted (#) | Performance Metric | Payout Range | Vesting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GSUs | 19,000,000 | 116,407 | — | — | Standard GSU vest cadence per award; transitional amount adds $2,666,667 |
| PSUs | 7,000,000 | 37,609 | Relative TSR vs S&P 100 | 0%–200% of target | 12/31/2027 cliff (performance period 2025–2027) |
| Transitional GSU add-on | 2,666,667 | Included in total GSUs | — | — | Granted Mar 5, 2025 |
- PSUs/GSUs share counts based on $186.13 Feb 2025 average Class C price (rounded up) .
2024 Grants (approved Apr 16, 2024; granted May 1, 2024)
| Instrument | Target/Grant Detail | Shares (#) | Grant Date Fair Value ($) | Vesting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSUs | Threshold/Target/Max | 15,751 / 31,501 / 63,002 | 8,278,148 | Per PSU award agreement; performance-based |
| GSUs | All other stock awards (GSUs) | 113,401 | 18,775,804 | Per GSU award agreement |
| SVP Bonus program | Target/Max (non‑equity plan) | 2,000,000 / 2,000,000 | — | Discretionary payout by committee |
Historical Vesting Schedule (illustrative)
- 2020: $46,000,000 GSUs vesting 2/16th on June 25, 2020 and 1/16th quarterly thereafter until December 2023 .
Equity Ownership & Alignment
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Beneficial ownership (Alphabet voting shares) | 28,060 Class A shares; less than 1% of voting power . |
| Dual‑class context | Founders retain significant Class B voting control; executives’ Class A holdings minimal . |
| Outstanding director units (Blackstone) | Annual director units and unvested units disclosed for 2020–2024 . |
| Pledging/Hedging | Historical: following her departure, Ms. Porat pledged 714,408 Morgan Stanley shares as collateral (MS); Alphabet policy not disclosed in retrieved docs . |
Employment Terms
- Appointment & tenure: Joined Google as CFO in May 2015; became Alphabet CFO in October 2015; elevated to President and Chief Investment Officer in September 2023 .
- Current role scope: Corporate investments (GV/CapitalG), Other Bets portfolio, Real Estate & Workplace Services, infrastructure, global policy/regulatory engagement .
- Severance/change‑of‑control: Not disclosed in the retrieved Alphabet proxy sections for Ms. Porat; general NEO severance terms not available in cited excerpts.
Revenue and EBITDA Context (Alphabet – Annual)
Alphabet scale and profitability expanded materially during Ms. Porat’s tenure. See 10-year revenue/EBITDA below.
| Metric | FY 2015 | FY 2016 | FY 2017 | FY 2018 | FY 2019 | FY 2020 | FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenues ($USD) | 74,989,000,000 | 90,272,000,000 | 110,855,000,000 | 136,819,000,000 | 161,857,000,000 | 182,527,000,000 | 257,637,000,000 | 282,836,000,000 | 307,394,000,000 | 350,018,000,000* |
| EBITDA ($USD) | 24,384,000,000* | 29,816,000,000* | 35,813,000,000* | 41,624,000,000* | 47,579,000,000* | 54,903,000,000* | 88,987,000,000* | 88,317,000,000* | 96,239,000,000* | 129,497,000,000* |
Values retrieved from S&P Global. An asterisk indicates values without document citations.
Investment Implications
- High at‑risk equity mix tied to multi‑year TSR: PSUs now explicitly benchmark S&P 100 TSR with 0–200% payout, signaling alignment with long‑term market performance; SVP bonus was discontinued and its target value shifted into PSUs in 2025 .
- Material GSU grants with defined vesting cadence: Significant GSUs in 2024–2025, plus transitional 2025 GSUs, suggest ongoing retention focus; cliff PSU vest in 2027 concentrates performance-driven outcomes and may temper near‑term selling pressure relative to time‑vested awards .
- Limited personal voting stake vs dual‑class control: Ms. Porat’s Alphabet voting share ownership is de minimis (<1%), with founders retaining substantial Class B control—investors should evaluate incentive alignment primarily via PSU structures rather than common share ownership .
- Historical pledging at prior employer (MS): Prior pledge of MS shares (post‑departure) is a governance footnote; Alphabet’s current hedging/pledging policies for executives were not found in the retrieved documents .