Google ‘gave Andy Rubin $90M exit package despite misconduct claim’

The allegation against Android’s co-founder, Andy Rubin (pictured), emerged in November

Google reportedly gave Android’s co-founder, Andy Rubin, a hefty exit package of $90million despite a credible claim that he had an inappropriate relationship with a woman while working at the company.

Rubin left Google in 2014 to create, Playground Global, an incubator for hardware startups.

But following his exit, the claim was reported to Google’s human resources department and subsequently an investigation was opened.

Details of Rubin’s exit were revealed in a bombshell New York Times report released Thursday that claimed Rubin coerced the woman into performing oral sex in a hotel room in 2013.

But just a few weeks into the investigation, Rubin was given an additional stock package of $150million.

According to the Times, that stock package was unusually high by Google’s standards. 

Eventually, Google officials found the woman’s claim to be credible.  

Rubin was later asked to resign by Google’s co-founder, Larry Page.  

And despite the credible claim, Rubin was reportedly paid the $90million exit package in the form of monthly payments ranging from $1.25million to $2.5million over the course of four years.

According to the Times, Rubin’s ex-wife, Rie, filed a civil suit this month.

Details of Rubin's 2014 exit were revealed in a bombshell New York Times report released Thursday that claimed Rubin coerced the woman into performing oral sex in a hotel room in 2013

Details of Rubin’s 2014 exit were revealed in a bombshell New York Times report released Thursday that claimed Rubin coerced the woman into performing oral sex in a hotel room in 2013

In the suit, she claimed he had multiple ‘ownership relationships’ with other women during their marriage and paid the women hundreds of thousands of dollars. They finalized their divorce in August.

A screenshot of an August 2015 email Rubin reportedly sent to one woman was also included in the suit. 

‘You will be happy being taken care of,’ he wrote, according to the Times.

‘Being owned is kinda like you are my property, and I can loan you to other people.’

Following the release of the Times report, DailyMail.com reached out to Google for comment. 

In response, a spokesperson released a copy of the email that Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Eileen Naughton, the Vice President of People Operations, sent to the company’s employees on Thursday. 

‘We are dead serious about making sure we provide a safe and inclusive workplace,’ the email began. 

‘We want to assure you that we review every single complaint about sexual harassment or inappropriate conduct, we investigate and we take action.

Google officials found the woman's claim to be credible. Rubin was later asked to resign by Google's co-founder, Larry Page (pictured)

Google officials found the woman’s claim to be credible. Rubin was later asked to resign by Google’s co-founder, Larry Page (pictured)

According to the email, Google has made a number of changes, ‘including taking an increasingly hard line on inappropriate conduct by people in positions of authority: in the last two years, 48 people have been terminated for sexual harassment, including 13 who were senior managers and above’.

‘None of these individuals received an exit package.’

Pichai wrote in the email that Google has ‘updated our policy to require all VPs and SVPs to disclose any relationship with a co-worker regardless of reporting line or presence of conflict’.

‘In 2015, we launched Respect@ and our annual Internal Investigations Report to provide transparency about these types of investigations at Google,’ the email continued. 

The company’s top leaders also noted that they are ‘committed to ensuring that Google is a workplace where you can feel safe to do your best work, and where there are serious consequences for anyone who behaves inappropriately’. 

Last November, when the allegation emerged publicly Rubin took a leave of absence from his company, Essential Products. He has since returned to his CEO post.  

At the time, a representative of Essential Products told the DailyMail.com that Rubin had ‘asked for a leave of absence to deal with personal matters’.

Rubin joined Google in 2005 when the search giant acquired Android. 

He oversaw development of what is now the world’s most used mobile operating system until an executive restructuring in 2013.

Google put Rubin in charge of a nascent robotics effort, but he left the next year to launch Playground Global.

Prior to Android, Rubin was working at Danger, the company that created the Sidekick mobile phone.

He has also worked for Apple and General Magic, before it ceased operations in 2002.

Rubin, who founded Essential Products in 2015, has a net worth of $350million. 

He and Rie’s Woodside, California home went on sale in January for $34.6million. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk