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A Coveted Landing Strip for Google's Founders

Posted by samzenpus on from the he-who-has-the-gold-makes-the-rules dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The NYT reports, "In the annals of perks enjoyed by America's corporate executives, the founders of Google may have set a new standard: an uncrowded, federally managed runway for their private jet that is only a few minutes' drive from their offices. For $1.3 million a year, Larry Page and Sergey Brin get to park their customized wide-body Boeing 767-200, as well as two other jets used by top Google executives, on Moffett Field, an airport run by NASA that is generally closed to private aircraft."

4 of 427 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Money! Money! Money! by Silver+Sloth · · Score: 4, Informative

    Well usually money gains access to stuff when you spend them. Not if you have enough of it. Not only does money always fall on the biggest pile but the super rich have always enjoyed freebees that us mere mortals can only (wet) dream of.

    As an example from history, when Queen Elizabeth the 1st of England went on her travels it was expected that the local gentry would provide accomadation for free. This was a double edged sword for the provider - staying in the queen's good books was important but putting her up could cost as much as six month's worth of the typical income for the provider. So the queen, the richest person in the land, was getting freebee board and lodge, and at the highest posible level.
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    init 11 - for when you need that edge.
  2. No Ad link by jsse · · Score: 4, Informative

    Click here for no ad link.

    BTW, even Bush could find this link in the article easily, so please don't mod.

  3. Re:Larry's had that for a while by mlk · · Score: 5, Informative

    . For $1.3 million a year To me that sounds like is not "taxpayer funded".
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    Wow, I should not post when knackered.
  4. Not really a special deal. by lancejjj · · Score: 4, Informative

    For those who are not familiar with the operations of Moffett Field:

    Moffett has fairly extensive facilities that are not nearly as heavily utilized as they were during the cold war and WW2, and it is in the heart of Silicon Valley.

    Moffett is no longer a military base, but a federal facility that is used for many purposes - mostly but not exclusively centered around technology.

    For perhaps a decade, NASA has been leasing out commercial space to private enterprises at Moffett for not only NASA-related research operations, but for general, business operations of private institutions. In additional, there are private educational institutions at Moffett.