Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the co-founders of Google, accepted a $1 annual salary in 2006 – choosing to make do with $2.4 billion (£1.2bn) apiece in share-price gains and about another $1.4 billion each from selling-down their stakes in the company.

Eric Schmidt, Google’s chief executive, was also paid a $1 salary - the third consecutive year the company's top three have taken a nominal basic wage.

Google, the leader in the massively lucrative online search advertising market, has never paid a dividend and said today in a Securities and Exchange Commission that it does not expect to. Mr Page, Mr Brin and Mr Schmidt do not qualify for options awards.

Instead, most of the triumvate’s wealth comes from the appreciation of their share holdings. Mr Page, 34, and Mr Brin, 33, each own about 29 million shares in Google – stakes worth nearly $14 billion apiece at yesterday’s closing price of $472.60.

Google shares have risen about 20 per cent in the last 12 months, up from about $390 a year ago. The increase translates to a $2.4 billion gain for both Mr Page and Mr Brin. The shares have traded at an all-time high of $513 in the past 12 months.

Mr Page and Mr Brin also sold nearly 3 million Google shares each in 2006. At last night's close those stakes would have been worth some $1.4 billion each.

Mr Shmidt’s stake in the group was worth about $5 billion at yesterday’s close.

Mr Schmidt also claimed $530,000 in personal security expenses over the year, according to the SEC filing. Mr Page, was also paid $38,500 for travel and security costs.

The three each also received $1,700 in holiday pay.

The filing also revealed that Google will face a showdown with shareholders over its business in China and other territories that censor the web, at its annual meeting on May 10.

The Office of the Comptroller of New York City, which controls police, fire department and teachers’ pensions funds, has demanded a shareholder vote calling for measures designed to safeguard free speech online.

The vote will include a call for Google not to store information that can identify its users in “internet restricting countries, where political speech can be treated as a crime by the legal system”.

Other policies being proposed ask that Google not engage in "proactive censorship" and that it use all legal means to resist demands for censorship.

Google's board has recommended a vote against the shareholder proposal.

Through the allocation of Google’s controversial Class B Common Stock, Mr Page and Mr Brin control 56 per cent of the shareholders’ voting power between them. Mr Schmidt controls another 10 per cent.

Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft and Cisco have all faced fierce criticism for doing business in China, a state dubbed "the world champion of internet censorship" by Reporters Without Borders, the press freedom group.

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