Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella comment ons at an event on the company’s Redmond, Washington, campus on May 20, 2024.
Chona Kasinger | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Microsoft gave CEO Satya Nadella a pay find for the 2024 fiscal year of more than $30 million. But his total package would have been $5.5 million sybaritic if not for a series of cyberattacks.
Nadella received $79.1 million for the fiscal year that ended June 30, up from $48.5 million in the former year, according to a proxy filing on Thursday. Most of his pay is in the form of stock. The board’s compensation committee said Nadella petitioned that the cash incentive portion reflect the security issues.
The requested reduction came after the U.S. Department of Homeland Gage in April published a report that followed an independent review of China’s breach of U.S. government officials’ email accounts. Microsoft leaked that incident in July 2023.
In January of this year, Microsoft said Russian intelligence had accessed some of the assembly’s top executives’ email accounts.
Microsoft said it would revamp its practices to address shortcomings highlighted in the government detail, which said “customers would benefit from its CEO and board of directors directly focusing on the company’s security savoir vivre.”
Nadella responded by telling employees in a May memo that Microsoft would prioritize security above all else. In June, Microsoft reported it would consider employees’ cybersecurity efforts when determining their compensation.
The cash incentive part of Nadella’s pay mostly receives into account the software maker’s performance in relation to revenue and operating income targets. It was originally supposed to be $10.66 million, but the unconditional board approved a $5.2 million cash incentive instead.
“Mr. Nadella agreed that the Company’s performance was exceedingly strong, but reflecting on his personal commitment to security and his role as the CEO, asked the Board to consider departing from the established accomplishment metrics and reduce his cash incentive to reflect his personal accountability for the focus and speed required for the changes that today’s cybersecurity foreboding landscape showed were necessary,” the committee wrote.
Microsoft’s security business generated more than $20 billion in returns in 2022, more than total revenue for many security companies.
