What just happened? In a year when Microsoft has announced over 15,000 layoffs as it looks to streamline operations, CEO Satya Nadella has seen his compensation rise a massive 22% to $96.5 million. As is usually the case with tech giant bosses, most of the money comes in the form of stock awards, but Nadella still received around $9.5 million in cash incentives.
Nadella's compensation was up 63% last year to $79.11 million, despite his cash incentives being cut by 50% at his own request. The package included $5.2 million in cash and $71 million in stock awards.
According to Microsoft's proxy statement filed last week, this year has been an even more lucrative one for the Redmond CEO. His stock awards were up to $84 million, while cash incentives rose to $9.5 million. He also received $2.5 million in base salary.
Microsoft wrote that the generous compensation increase is designed to encourage Nadella's continued leadership while driving business growth and shareholder value.
Microsoft's overall revenue increased 15% to $281.7 billion, and net income was up 16% to $101.8 billion for fiscal year 2025, which ended on June 30, 2025. The company's stock price, meanwhile, has gone from $354 at the start of April to $523 today – a 47.7% increase.
Since Nadella took over from Steve Ballmer in 2014, Microsoft's revenue has tripled, its net income quadrupled, and diluted earnings per share quintupled. The company's market cap was just over $300 billion when he took the helm. Today, the third-largest company in the world has a market capitalization of $3.8 trillion.
It's all great news for Microsoft and Nadella, but it's unlikely to bring much happiness to the 15,000 or so people the company has laid off this year. Microsoft cut about 6,000 jobs, or roughly 3% of its global workforce, in May 2025. This was followed by another 9,000 cuts in July.
The layoffs were announced as Microsoft made enormous investments in AI, including an $80 billion outlay on AI infrastructure and a massive push toward AI-enabled work. The firm never directly blamed AI for the cuts, which many companies are now doing, but cited shifting business priorities, improving efficiency, structural changes, and new ways of working.
According to PayScale, Microsoft's average salary is about $132,311 per year in the US, or around 0.13% of what Nadella receives.