I worked for Andy for a few years at Danger. He's a great guy. He's got a great mix of technical skills, business savvy and being a generally nice bloke.
He's also ridiculously generous.
Also, he builds cool robots for fun (or at least used to).
A shareholder sued Motorola Mobility and its CEO Sanjay Jha over the price paid to the company.
People will sue over anything. Google bought it for 60% more than the stock price at the time, and the analyst consensus was that was quite a high premium.
A friend of mine worked as a group leader for a major tech company for years. Put in 14 to 16 hours a day for six months to release a major project. On launch, the company gave my friend a $10,000 bonus, and gave the group pizza and a trophy. He split his bonus with his entire team. He got laid off 3 months later. He immediately started running a consultancy, and hired away most of his group. The company has since tanked.
Do the right thing for your people, and they will lay down in traffic for you if you ask them to. Screw them over, and they will milk your company dry.
Definitely an amazing guy! But the deal sounds a bit strange... I mean - his bonus is his personal income. Why Google executives pay their teams with their personal money, wouldn't it make more sense to re-adjust the bonuses payable with company money? Also, I'm curious how it works from IRS point of view - did he end up paying taxes on that as well?
He's also ridiculously generous. Also, he builds cool robots for fun (or at least used to).