The Microsoft CEO`s salary increased by 63% to $79 million

The compensation of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella for the fiscal year 2024 increased by 63%, thanks to stock awards, reaching $79.1 million. During this period, Microsoft became a $3 trillion company.

Microsoft awarded its CEO, Satya Nadella, a raise of over $30 million for the fiscal year 2024. However, if there had been no cyberattacks, his total package would have been $5.5 million higher. According to a report released by Microsoft on Thursday, Nadella's total earnings rose from $48.5 million last year to $79.1 million, with a large portion of this amount in stock compensation.

Nadella earned a record amount

The cash incentive portion of Nadella's salary mostly reflects Microsoft's performance concerning revenue and operating income goals. Originally expected to be $10.66 million, the cash incentive was reduced to $5.2 million at Nadella's request. According to Microsoft's board, Nadella took personal responsibility for security and requested a different assessment from existing performance metrics, lowering his incentive to reflect this responsibility.

After a report by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on China's breach of U.S. officials' email accounts, Microsoft disclosed this incident in July 2023. It was also revealed in January that Russian intelligence had accessed some high-level executives' email accounts. The reduction request relates to these incidents.

Meanwhile, Microsoft's security business generated over $20 billion in revenue in 2022, surpassing the total revenue of many security firms. Additionally, Microsoft's shares gained approximately 31.2% in value over the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2024.

The growth in Microsoft's valuation is supported by its investment and close collaboration with ChatGPT maker OpenAI. Microsoft is integrating OpenAI technologies into its products, leading the way in the spread of generative artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, AI chip giant Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang earned $34.2 million in the fiscal year 2024, while Apple CEO Tim Cook earned $63.2 million in 2023.