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Top American executives are no strangers to perks, from company-owned condominiums to private jets. What the founders of Google -- Larry Page and Sergey Brin -- have, however, will make a lot of CEO's question their next set of perks.
According to a report in The New York Times, the Google founders have forked out around $1.3 million a year for the privilege of parking their customised Boeing 767-200, along with two Gulfstream Vs company jets, at NASA's Moffett Field airport -- just a few minutes from the company's headquarters in Mountain View, California. It isn't the price that has jaws open; it's the fact that the NASA-run airport is closed to private aircraft, making a spot there all the move coveted.
It's a win-win situation, apparently. While the Google execs get prime parking spots for their much-discussed jets, NASA will be allowed to place scientific instruments on the aircraft to collect data on some flights. Airport maintenance costs will be defrayed, while benefiting science.
Not everyone in the community is pleased, of course. Locals have long opposed the expansion of flights at the airport. On its part, Google says this is a personal matter.
Irrespective of what happens next, the term 'corporate perks' just went up a whole new level.