It’s taken nearly a year, but Google (GOOG) has finally decided on a replacement for departing CFO George Reyes. Bell Canada executive Patrick Pichette, who served as the telecom’s president of operations and CFO, will take over for Reyes on Aug. 12.

“Google is a great company with a phenomenal brand and an outstanding management team,” said Pichette. “As an avid user of Google products, I’ve admired the company for many years and am excited about working with my new colleagues in Mountain View and around the world.”

Excited about his new compensation package too, I bet: $450,000 a year base salary, stock options, a signing bonus of $500,000 and an additional $500,000 after six months and eligibility for a discretionary bonus of up to 150% of his base salary (see offer letter below).

And as for Reyes? Well, having joined Google well before its 2004 initial public offering, he will presumably be spending the remainder of the summer enjoying some of the obscene wealth that the IPO created. When he first announced his plans to leave Google, Reyes was holding more than 50,000 exercisable options. As of June 3, he held a bit more than 10,000.

Pichette’s offer letter after the jump.

June 6, 2008
Patrick Pichette
Re: Offer of Employment with Google Inc.

Dear Patrick:

On behalf of Google Inc., I am pleased to offer you the exempt position of Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, subject to the terms and contingencies set forth below. The position is located in Mountain View, California. Your start date shall be August 1, 2008 and you will assume the position of CFO effective August 12, 2008.

You will receive an annual salary of $450,000, which will be paid biweekly and subject to a periodic review. You are eligible to participate in the Company Bonus Program; your annual bonus target will be 150% of base salary. Bonuses under the Company Bonus Plan are discretionary. The actual bonus amount could be larger or smaller than this amount, based on your performance and the performance of the Company. Whether a bonus will be awarded in a particular bonus period, and in what amount, is within Google’s sole discretion. Both your base salary and the components of your bonus are subject to periodic review.

Additionally, upon your start date, Google will pay you a one-time Sign-On Bonus of $500,000. This will be taxed as supplemental income. At the completion of six months of full-time employment with us, Google will pay you an additional $500,000 Cash Bonus. This will also be taxed as supplemental income. In the event your employment is terminated within the first six months of your employment, the Cash Bonus payout will be accelerated and paid on the termination date or as soon thereafter as Company business practices allow, but in any case within thirty (30) days of your termination. If you terminate your employment at Google before the one year anniversary of your start date, other than as a result of a breach by Google of this Agreement, you will be required to repay the Sign-On Bonus and Cash Bonus. Any required repayment will be prorated based on the number of remaining calendar days until the one year anniversary of your start date.

Google will pay relocation costs and provide reimbursement for specified moving expenses as outlined in Google’s North American Officer Relocation Policy. In order to receive these benefits, you will be required to work with a third party vendor provider designated by Google to assist in employee moves.

As a regular full-time employee you will be eligible for various benefits offered to similarly-situated Google employees in accordance with the terms of Google’s policies and benefit plans. Among other things, these benefits currently include medical and dental insurance, life insurance, and a 401(k) retirement plan. You will automatically be enrolled in the 401(k) plan at 4% into the Wellesley Fund, which is a balanced fund of stocks and bonds. You will be able to change your deferral amount and fund allocation upon your hire. The eligibility requirements and other information regarding these benefits are set forth in

Wow. Reyes’s Sarbanes-Oxley jokes must have been a laugh riot. Anyway …

High-level executive departures like Reyes’s are something of a rarity at Google. Reyes (pictured in the photo illustration above, right), who came to Google in 2002, is only the second third key executive to leave the company since Cindy McCaffrey (hot tub, above left), Google’s vice president of corporate marketing, and Wayne Rosing (hot tub, above center), its VP of engineering, retired. And though Reyes didn’t say why he decided to step down, his reasons for doing so are clear to anyone who pays attention to the company’s share price. At closing bell yesterday, GOOG was trading north of $500. And as of last December, Reyes–who’s sold off $259.5 million of Google stock since August 2004–was still holding 51,750 exercisable options.

Strike price? Five dollars apiece.