Google chairman Eric Schmidt paid $101 million last year

Google Inc chairman Eric Schmidt was paid $101 million last year as Larry Page whose compensation totalled $1 took over the reins of the company from him.

Schmidt received $55.6 million in stock awards as also $38.1 million in options, according to the Mountain View company's regulatory filing on Friday. The balance $7.2 million were accounted by his salary, a non-equity incentive plan and other forms of compensation.

The pay of the former CEO surged from $313,219 in 2010. He stepped down a year ago, putting Page back in charge, and. He was named CEO in 2001. Page and co-founder Sergey Brin, Google's largest shareholders, were each paid $1 last year as part of a 2004 plan.

The filing said Schmidt was granted equity awards with a target value of $100 million in connection with his move last year to the position of executive chairman.

Google had designed the stock and stock option package to be worth $100 million, however, the compensation formula worked out by securities regulators led to a slightly differing calculation.

But there were more goodies for Schmidt by way of a salary increase from $1 annually as CEO to $1.25 million as executive chairman. His 2011 salary was $937,500 due to his stint in the first three months of the year in the lower-paying job as CEO.