Google Gave $90 Million Payoff to Android Founder Andy Rubin Despite Sexual Harassment Charges: Report

Android creator Andy Rubin received an exit package worth $90 million from Google even though he was facing allegations of sexual misconduct.

New York Times reported that Rubin was one of three senior executives that Google has shielded in the past decade after complaints of inappropriate sexual behaviour.

The report said that in two instances, the tech giant paid millions of dollars as the executives departed while the third executive remained in a highly compensated post.

In its response, Google released an email sent to employees from its CEO Sundar Pichai stating that 48 people had been terminated for sexual harassment in the past two years, including 13 who were senior managers and above and that none received "an exit package."

"In recent years, we've made a number of changes, including taking an increasingly hard line on inappropriate conduct by people in positions of authority," Pichai said.

The NYT report cited two unnamed Google executives as saying that then-chief executive Larry Page asked for Rubin's resignation after the company confirmed a complaint by a woman about a sexual encounter in a hotel in 2013.

“I want to wish Andy all the best with what’s next… With Android he created something truly remarkable — with a billion-plus happy users,” read a statement by Larry Page, the then CEO of Google.

Pichai added that the report on Rubin and others "was difficult to read" but he did not directly address the claims in the article. "We are dead serious about making sure we provide a safe and inclusive workplace," he said. "We want to assure you that we review every single complaint about sexual harassment or inappropriate conduct, we investigate and we take action."

Sam Singer, a spokesman for Rubin, rejected the allegations against him in a statement to AFP, saying Rubin left Google of his own accord to launch venture capital firm and technology incubator Playground.

Rubin went on to found smartphone company Essential. The Android operating system, which Google makes available to device makers free of charge, powers about 85 per cent of the world's smartphones.