Last year, Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, was paid $79.1 million (£61 million), a 63% increase from the previous year.
That was despite Mr. Nadella’s request to reduce a portion of his compensation due to cybersecurity flaws at the tech giant, which resulted in him receiving $5 million less than he would have otherwise received.
This year, Microsoft, like many other tech companies, has laid off thousands of employees, many of whom work in its gaming division.
However, the board stated in a proxy statement that was submitted to the US financial regulator that the company’s revenue increased by 16% in the year ending 30 June 2024.
In a letter to shareholders, the compensation committee of Microsoft wrote, “Mr. Nadella agreed that the Company’s performance was extremely strong.”
He also asked them to “consider departing from the established performance metrics and reduce his cash incentive to reflect his personal accountability” regarding a number of cyberattacks, according to the report.
One such assault was accounted for in July 2023 by Microsoft, where programmers accessed the email records of around 25 associations, including government organizations.
Microsoft claimed that China was the source of the attack, but the Chinese embassy in London branded this “disinformation.”
The fiscal year ends on June 30, 2024, just a few weeks before a massive internet outage affected Microsoft Windows PCs and caused global chaos.
Even though that was not a cyberattack, Microsoft apologized later in July for another outage that was caused by a cyberattack.
“Multiple lifetimes of absolute luxury”: Mr. Nadella’s cash pay was cut by more than half, to $5.2 million, according to the compensation committee.
That is less than 7% of his total compensation.
Stock options made up $71.2 million of his pay.
Luke Hildyard, director of the High Pay Centre, stated that the earnings made sense “superficially” in light of Microsoft’s strong financial performance.
According to what he told the BBC, “However, we might also ask whether the additional $79 million on top of $49 million last year for someone who is already worth hundreds of millions, with more money than they could spend over multiple lifetimes of absolute luxury, is really necessary as a reward or incentive”
He continued, “Maybe the proceeds of that success should be shared a little more evenly because none of Microsoft’s success would be possible without workers, customers, and the wider society.”
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, received $63.2 million in 2023, and Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company, received $34.2 million in 2024.
However, none of them come close to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, whose salary could reach $56 billion.
