Andy Rubin got a $90M exit package from Google amid a sexual misconduct investigation

Andy
Rubin
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Wired

• Andy Rubin — the Android mobile software creator — left
  Google because of an inappropriate relationship with a
  subordinate, according to a 2017 report by The Information. 
• On Thursday, The New York Times released more details about
  the incident that led to Rubin’s dismissal. 
• According to the report, Rubin pressured a woman (with whom
  he had an extramarital relationship) into performing oral sex in
  a hotel room in 2013.
• Google’s investigation ultimately found the complaints to be
  credible and Rubin was provided a $90 million exit package by the
  company. 

New details about Andy Rubin’s 2014 exit from Google came to
light on Thursday in a bombshell report
by The New York Times that alleges the internet company paid
him $90 million despite concluding that there was credibility to
a sexual misconduct claim against him.

Rubin, who created the Android software that now powers the
majority of the world’s smarpthone’s, received the money from his
former employer in the form of monthly payments ranging from
$1.25 million to $2.5 million over the course of four
years. 

After leaving Google on publicly amicable terms, Rubin
launched Essential, a smartphone company.

Rubin had been involved in an “inappropriate relationship” with a
subordinate, as first reported last year by The
Information. 

But the accusation that led to Rubin’s departure from Google,
which was previously unknown until Thursday’s New York Times
report, involved the Android founder pressuring a woman
(with whom he had an extramarital relationship) into performing
oral sex in a hotel room in 2013. The incident ended their
relationship, according to the report. 

The claim was brought to Google’s HR department in 2014 by the
woman, and an investigation was opened, the Times reports. Just a
few weeks into the investigation, Rubin was awarded an additional
stock package of $150 million, which according to The Times
report, was high by Google’s standards. 

Google found the woman’s complaints to be credible and
ultimately, asked Rubin to leave, the report says. Rubin denied
the accusation and was able to use the recently awarded $150
million stock package to negotiate his $90 million exit package,
according to the report. 

Rubin took a leave of absence from his latest startup — Essential
— last November after The Information first reported the nature
of his departure from Google. He has since returned.

Today, his net worth is around $350 million.

Representatives from Google and Essential, Rubin’s current
company, did not immediately return requests for comment.

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