Alphabet’s Top Lawyer Earns $27 Million During Antitrust Fights

Alphabet Inc.‘s legal and policy chief J. Kent Walker Jr.'s pay grew to more than $27.3 million last year as he helped the company engage in antitrust disputes.

A $24.8 million stock award comprised the bulk of his package, the company disclosed in a proxy statement filed April 26. Walker earned $2.5 million in cash, including a $1 million base salary, during fiscal 2023, according to the filing.

Alphabet last week sought to dismiss an antitrust suit the US Justice Department filed in early 2023 accusing the company’s advertising technology business of monopolistic practices. The Mountain View, California-based company faced other antitrust disputes, including those with Epic Games Inc. and Match Group Inc., the latter of which settled with Alphabet late last year.

Walker has long been a critical cog in Alphabet’s in-house legal and public policy apparatus. The company and its antitrust adversaries have sparred over what materials should be in the public domain. A federal district judge overseeing the Epic Games case rebuked Walker in November over allegations that Alphabet intentionally destroyed sensitive internal communications.

Alphabet and Walker didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Walker, 63, took over leadership of the company’s law department in 2020 following the retirement of longtime legal chief David Drummond. Walker received roughly $24.4 million in 2022 compensation.

The former federal prosecutor joined what is now Google LLC in 2006 and was that company’s general counsel prior to taking on responsibility for global affairs in 2018. In 2020, Alphabet awarded Walker a nearly $50.9 million total compensation package, a year before he took on the titles of president of global affairs and chief legal officer for the parent company and its primary subsidiary.

Walker owns more than $14.6 million in Alphabet stock, according to Bloomberg data. Securities filings show that within the last year he’s sold off more than $27.2 million in company shares. Walker also serves as corporate secretary.

Before joining the technology conglomerate, Walker worked in-house at eBay Inc. and Netscape Communications Corp. and in private practice at a predecessor to Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer.

When Walker moved into Alphabet’s top legal and policy job, Google promoted another veteran in-house lawyer, Halimah DeLaine Prado, to general counsel.