Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella got a big pay boost in 2024, but it could have been even higher

Microsoft had some ups and downs during its last fiscal year of 2024, which ended on June 30. However, that did not stop the company from approving a big pay raise for its current CEO, Satya Nadella. It was revealed this week that Nadella had a whopping $79.1 million in stock and cash for the 2024 fiscal year.

Microsoft revealed how much Nadella was paid via a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (via CNBC). The amount was much higher than the $48.5 million in stock and cash he received for the 2023 fiscal year.

As with many CEOs of big public companies, the majority of payments made to Nadella in the last fiscal year were made in the form of Microsoft stock options. He was supposed to also get $10.66 million in cash incentives and bonuses. Still, according to the SEC filing, Nadella personally requested that part of his payment be reduced to "just" $5.2 million.

That was due to Microsoft's efforts to hold itself accountable for a series of security breaches during the 2024 fiscal year. One happened in the summer of 2023 when a Chinese-based group got access to Outlook email accounts in the US and Europe. Later, in early 2024, a Russia-based group accessed the email accounts of some of Microsoft's top executives.

Microsoft said it made sweeping changes to its security efforts following these incidents, claiming in May that security was the company's top priority above everything else. In June, Microsoft said that it would alter bonuses, even for its top leaders, depending on how they personally contributed to security improvements.

According to this week's SEC filing, Microsoft said that while Nadella felt that the company's overall "performance was extremely strong" during the last fiscal year, it added that he requested that Microsoft's Board of Directors "reduce his cash incentive" so he could take some "personal accountability for the focus and speed required for the changes that today’s cybersecurity threat landscape showed were necessary."

Even with that cut in cash bonuses compared to what it could have been without the security issues, it's clear that Nadella is still a very well-paid CEO for Microsoft.