Microsoft's Nadella seeks Rs 63 cr pay cut from his Rs 665-cr package

Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella saw his compensation package this year soar 63 percent to ₹665 crore ($7.91 crore), according to Microsoft's filing with the US Securities and Exchanges Commission.  However, the document showed that Mr Nadella asked for his salary's cash component to be reduced. 

Mr Nadella scored a $79,106,183 pay package in 2024 — his highest ever and a 63 percent hike from 2023. The filing broke down the salary components, stating that stock awards worth $71,236,392 made up the majority of the salary package, $5.2 million came from 'Non-equity Incentive Plan' and $169,791 through ‘All Other Compensation.’

Cut my pay by Rs 63 crore, please

The filing stated that Mr Nadella asked for his cash part to be reduced from $10 million to $2.5 million. Why? According to a media report, he took “personal accountability” for the company's “cybersecurity challenges”. These challenges include the worldwide 'blue screen of death' technical glitch from Crowdstrike that halted services for clients in July 2024, and warnings in April 2024 from the US Department of Homeland Security about breaches from China and Russia.

The cash cut from Mr Nadella's salary will be used to pad up the company's cybersecurity measures instead and Microsoft took steps to "completely overhaul" its cybersecurity, the report added.

Why such a high package?

Microsoft hailed Mr Nadella for a host of achievements at the helm of the company, including driving bonuses up to 142.16 percent, with an upper limit of 200 percent.

It noted his push for innovation across the CoPilot, Copilot+PCs, and Copilot projects, his contribution towards targetting artificial intelligence development and cloud resources for customer solutions, and adapting the organisation amid cybersecurity challenges. It also noted his success with the gaming company Activision Blizzard, which Microsoft acquired for $68.7 billion in 2022.

(By arrangement with livemint.com)