Adjusting for benefits etc. it's not that different but my point is that £150k in London is a great salary on which someone can live very well, regardless of what you can earn in the US.
£150k is ~$196k base. I don't really see how that's much much less? My friend is an L6 at 220k base (with a shitload of equity). Definitely within the range.
Workers in UK also work less than their US counterparts (paid holidays, parental leave, sick days ...) [1]. Would make more sense to compare these countries by hourly income, not yearly.
My (current) experience is that the London teams at my FAANG work no less than the US ones, and indeed often much later into the evenings to accommodate meetings. And everyone works fewer hours than those in finance.
Base is not that important especially at L6. How much stock is your friend getting?
150k after tax, pension and healthcare or before?
UK/Australia/NZ tend to talk about Base salary (excludes bonus/health care/before tax).
Is that different elsewhere?
Edited to note this is "Base" not "Total" Salary
Salary in the UK means just the cash part of the package. Before tax, pension, healthcare, stock, bonuses and any other perks.
At least in UK, pension is usually on top of the quoted gross salary (Usually it is at least 10% more). But otherwise yes, the figure is before tax.
150k USD is around what you'll get with 2-3 years of non-FAANG experience in the US, so not that bad for London.