Unfortunately, the above statement is not very accurate. Google's year-end bonus is not the same as their performance-based annual bonus. How can any company give the same, equal annual bonus to every employee, of all pay levels and of all performance grades?

The year-end bonus is a gift that Google gives all its employees around Christmas time, and this is different from the performance-based annual bonus employees are given in Feb-Mar timeframe. It is the performance-based annual bonus that runs into thousands because it is approximately 15% of the base annual salary for most employees. In the past, the annual year-end bonus around Christmas time used to be about a constant $1000 for all employees. This year, it is the Dream phone, which is estimated to be $400 (that is the cash equivalent they are giving to employees in some countries where they cannot give the Dream phone). So, the year-end bonus actually came down by only about $600 or 60%.

Hope this clarifies.