Microsoft’s 2024 annual report states that CEO Satya Nadella will earn $79 million (£60.9 million) this year, a 63% pay rise from last year.
In a message to shareholders regarding the report, Nadella celebrated “hundreds of millions of players” joining the Xbox ecosystem and stated that they will continue to bring their games to PlayStation and Nintendo consoles.
“We now have 20 franchises that have generated over $1 billion in lifetime revenue—from Candy Crush, Diablo, and Halo to Warcraft, Elder Scrolls, and Gears of War. And with Xbox Cloud Gaming, we continue to innovate to offer players more ways to experience the games they love—where, when, and how they want. Finally, we brought four of our fan-favorite titles to Nintendo Switch and Sony PlayStation for the first time, as we continue to extend our content to new platforms.”
This pay rise is due to an increase in Microsoft stocks over the past year. The rise also incorporates Nadella’s taking a pay cut last year. In 2023, he asked for his salary to be reduced after a security breach in which a Chinese espionage group hacked Microsoft’s government email accounts. According to IGN, this means that Nadella’s salary compared to the median employee at Microsoft is now 408 to 1.
This is despite the company facing heavy controversy in 2024. Microsoft saw two rounds of mass layoffs following its record-breaking buyout of Activision Blizzard last year. The first was in January, which saw 1,900 employees laid off, while another 650 employees lost their jobs in September.
Furthermore, in June, the company shut down three of its recently acquired developers: Arkane Austin (Redfall), Tango Gameworks (Hi-Fi Rush), and Alpha Dog Games (Mighty Doom), all of whom were part of Xbox’s 2021 purchase of ZeniMax. Tango Gameworks, however, has since been saved from shutdown by being purchased by PUBG publisher Krafton.
The announcement has not been well received by gaming enthusiasts on social media. Many compare it to the actions of the late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, who famously took a pay cut during the failing sales of the Wii U to ensure the company would not have to lay off employees.
Words by Alex Daud Briggs
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