Microsoft’s CEO receive over 60% pay raise following thousands of lay-offs

Following over 2,000 layoffs, CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella has now received a 63% increase in his salary compared to last year. As per Microsoft’s regulatory filing, Nadella received a $79 million compensation package for 2024 after the market cap for the company crossed over $3 trillion.

A majority of the compensation, $71 million, are stock awards. His base salary was $2.5 million, with over $5 million being a cash incentive, as per Reuters. Previously, the cash incentive was $10.7 million but saw a reduction this year due to multiple cybersecurity breaches.

All of this comes on top of thousands of job cuts in the gaming department of the company (Xbox), which was already not performing well despite the company’s various offerings. Following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard for $69 billion along with its IPs like Call of Duty, there was a massive lay-off of 1,900 employees.

Following this, the company shut down three of its game development studios, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog Games, and Arkane Austin. While Arkane had a rough time with the release of Redfall which was a massive failure, Tango Gameworks was also shuttered, despite creating the hit rhythm game Hi-Fi Rush last year.

Also Read:Microsoft adds to lay off count with announcement of multiple Xbox studio closure

Not a good look for Microsoft

While the circumstances for the pay rise may have been different, for an average person, an increase in pay of upper management while employees suffer from their decision. The gaming industry is going through a bit of a rough patch, but that was also caused by the companies themselves.

Adding features that no one asked for, for example, the live service models. Online-only requirements in single-player games in the name of preventing piracy for mediocre games are just a few examples. In reality, good games already sell well without the requirement of these things.