Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella spoke at an event in Redmond, Washington, the company’s campus on May 20, 2024. Nadella bet a new generation of computers with special artificial intelligence chips and faster performance will revive the long-standing rivalry between Windows PC and Apple. Mac’s Inc.
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Microsoft giving CEO Satya Nadella a salary increase for fiscal year 2024 of more than $30 million. But the package total would have been $5.5 million higher had it not been for the multiple cyber attacks.
Nadella received $79.1 million for the fiscal year that ended June 30, up from $48.5 million the year before, according to a proxy filing on Thursday. Most of his pay is in the form of shares. The board’s compensation committee said Nadella asked that part of the cash incentive reflect safety concerns.
The requested reduction comes after the US Department of Homeland Security in April released a report that followed an independent review of China’s breach of US government officials’ email accounts. Microsoft announced that this will happen in July 2023.
In January this year, Microsoft said that Russian intelligence had accessed the email accounts of some of the company’s top executives.
Microsoft said it will revamp its practices to overcome the shortcomings highlighted in the government report, which said that “customers will benefit from the CEO and board of directors directly focusing on the company’s security culture.”
Nadella responded by telling employees in a May memo that Microsoft would prioritize security above all else. In June, Microsoft said it would consider employees’ cybersecurity efforts when determining compensation.
The cash incentive portion of Nadella’s salary is usually based on the software maker’s performance in terms of revenue and operating targets. It was originally supposed to be $10.66 million, but the full council approved a $5.2 million cash incentive.
“Mr. Nadella agreed that the Company’s performance was very strong, but reflected his personal commitment to security and his role as CEO, asking the Board to consider departing from established performance metrics and reducing cash incentives to reflect his personal responsibility. focus and speed needed to change- changes that the current cybersecurity threat landscape shows are necessary,” the committee wrote.
Microsoft’s security business will generate more than $20 billion by 2022, more than the total revenue for many security companies.
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