Microsoft boss gets 63% pay rise despite cutbacks

Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella earned $79.1m (£61m) last year, up 63% from the year before.

This was despite Mr Nadella's request to cut a component of his pay package due to cyber security lapses at the tech giant – resulting in $5 million less than he would otherwise have received.

In line with many tech companies, Microsoft has cut thousands of jobs this year, including many Gaming section.

But a Proxy Statement In a filing with the US financial regulator, the board said the company's revenue grew 16% in the year to 30 June 2024.

“Mr. Nadella agreed that the company's performance was extremely strong,” Microsoft's compensation committee wrote in a letter to shareholders.

It added that he asked them to “consider moving away from established performance metrics and reduce his cash incentives to reflect his personal accountability” for several cyber attacks.

One such attack was Report by Microsoft in July 2023, where hackers gained access to the email accounts of around 25 organizations, including government agencies.

Microsoft said the attack took place in China, although the Chinese embassy in London called it “disinformation”.

The financial period runs until 30 June 2024 – a few weeks earlier Massive internet outage Which affected Microsoft Windows PCs, creating chaos around the world.

Although it was not a cyber attack, Microsoft apologized later in July Another outage which was caused by a cyber attack.

The compensation committee said it more than halved Mr. Nadella's cash pay to $5.2 million.

This represents less than 7% of his gross salary.

The bulk of his salary, $71.2m, is made up of stock options.

Luke Hildyard, director of the High Pay Center, said the earnings were “overwhelmingly” due to Microsoft's strong financial performance.

“However, we can also ask whether an extra $79 million on top of last year's $49 million for someone who is already worth several million, meaning they can spend many lifetimes of absolute luxury, is really necessary as an incentive? Incentive,” he told the BBC.

“Microsoft's success wouldn't be possible without employees, customers and society at large, so perhaps the proceeds of that success should be shared a little more evenly,” he added.

Elsewhere in big tech, Apple boss Tim Cook earned $63.2m in 2023, while Jensen Huang, chief executive of Nvidia, the world's most valuable company, paid $34.2m in fiscal 2024.

But none of them come close to Tesla boss Elon Musk, whose pay packet could be worth it up to $56bn.