Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella To Get $84 Million Package

Microsoft shareholders gave a lukewarm vote of approval for CEO Satya Nadella's $84 million pay package, after an investor advisory group said the company was paying him too much.

Nadella's pay package puts him among the highest paid CEOs in the country for last year, although his pay as a first-year CEO falls short of the $378 million that Apple awarded to Tim Cook when he became CEO in 2011. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison was awarded stock options and other pay valued at $67.3 million last year. Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was paid only $1.3 million in 2013, but he held shares worth nearly $16 billion.

An advisory vote on Microsoft's executive pay program won approval from more than 72 percent of shareholder votes cast, the company said after its annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday. ISS, which reviews proxy measures for many large companies and criticized Nadella's pay, has said a vote below 70 percent is an indication that a company should review its policies. The vote fell short of the average support level of 91.5 percent for executive pay measures at other companies tracked by ISS affiliate, ISS ExecComp Analytics.

By comparison, more than 92 percent of votes supported the company's slate of directors, who ran without opposition. That doesn't mean investors are overly concerned, according to Wall Street analysts, who say Nadella is generally viewed as moving Microsoft in the right direction.

He had probably get the job done for less, so from this point of view are certainly not the economy, at a time Nadella supervised reorganization that includes cutting 18,000 jobs, said Colin Gillis of BGC Financial. But it is also true that 30 percent of the price of the shares of Microsoft this year and said I think this is the main indicator worry most people. If you think about the billions of value that has been created, it is a small fraction of that.
Most of the meeting was devoted to an overview of Microsoft's business strategy and a discussion of diversity. The executives an expose civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, who has been pushing for the technology sector hiring and promoting more women and minorities. Nadella repeated an earlier promise to make it a priority at Microsoft. While the company from Redmond, Washington has already yielded some statistics of the workforce, Nadella also promised more detailed information in a report published this month that the employer must annually submit to the federal government.

Nadella pay much consists of grants of shares will not be acquired before 2019 and Microsoft has said that they are an incentive for future results,as their population increase in value if the company does well. Nadella was paid a base salary of $ 918.917 and a bonus of $ 3.6 million, with grants of shares worth $ 79.8 million.

This includes one-time stock award worth $ 59 million when he he was promoted to general manager and an earlier grant worth $ 7 million for his role as Executive Vice President, CEO before. It also shares worth $ 13.5 million was granted if Microsoft executives gave awards "hold" to avoid leaving the vessel during the formation of the company for a successor to Ballmer looking for.Under securities legislation,companies need to report an estimate of measures at the time of a grant,but not directly exercise.

In a report last month to challenge the decision of the ISS company which is a mega-grant-term actions such as Microsoft and Nadella prize valued planned another annual grant of $ 13 million next year prosecutor. ISS also said the company should have more demanding performance standards for executive compensation.Microsoft Chairman John Thompson said the company "attract and motivate a world class CEO.Thompson said the package tied to performance and" motivated our CEO sustainable shareholder value over the long term, by the way, the people to share profits and build ownership of the company over the next seven years.