Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha pockets $47 million in 2011, nearly quadruple his 2010 pay

Motorola Mobility chief executive Sanjay Jha pocketed $47 million in 2011, nearly four-times his 2010 pay, Bloomberg reported today.

The mobile telephone maker, which has agreed to be snapped up by Google for $12.5 billion, said the increase in Jha's pay was due to higher-than-usual stock awards following the successful splitting of Motorola into two companies last year, Reuters reported, citing a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Jha received $13 million in 2010 before Motorola was divided into Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions.

Jha’s 2011 compensation was “significantly a result” of the incentives established for him before the spinoff and when he was hired in 2008, Motorola Mobility said in a statement, according to Bloomberg.

“His actual equity award was at the low end of the possible range specified by the formula.”

The Chicago Tribune said the increase between Jha's 2010 and 2011 pay packets was even greater than it appeared on first glance because the $13 million figure included two bonuses of $426,000 and $278,000 that Jha voluntarily gave up in 2010. Minus the bonuses, his compensation was $12.3 million.

Motorola Mobility said it expected to close the transaction with Google in the first half of this year, despite the Chinese government last month extending a review of the deal which has been approved by US and European regulators.

"Motorola Mobility and Google continue to work closely with MOFCOM (Ministry of Commerce) to conclude its investigation and expect the transaction to close during the first half of 2012," Motorola said in a statement to the SEC, noting that the deal had been "investigated and cleared without conditions in all other jurisdictions".