2025 has been a successful year for Microsoft so far. With new developments and innovations being made in their artificial intelligence technology, the Microsoft CEO has proven his leadership acumen for the umpteenth time. And last month marked a major development in Satya Nadella’s career. As per the details of a new proxy filing, the Chief Executive is set to receive a whopping salary of $96.5 million.
This compensation pay is for the fiscal year of 2025, which also happens to coincide with the time when Microsoft laid off approximately 15,000 of its employees. This year witnessed four rounds of layoffs at Microsoft, each of which had a significant impact on various levels of the corporate hierarchy. As the AI revolution sweeps across the tech industry, Nadella’s salary hike has become the talk of the town.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella gets a significant salary hike
The 2025 fiscal year began at Microsoft, with employees from various departments being fired from May through July. Three months later, Satya Nadella was announced to be drawing a total compensation of $96.5 million for fiscal 2025, as per Microsoft’s SEC proxy filing. This figure, which is a 22% year-over-year increase, positions the Microsoft CEO as one of the highest paid corporate executives in the world at the time of writing.
Nadella’s new pay package is the sum total of stock awards worth $84 million and cash incentives of over $9.5 million. This hike is largely tied to the company’s share performance. This year, Microsoft’s stock price has gone up by 23%, surpassing the S&P 500′s 15% gain, thanks to their enthusiasm and investments towards AI technology. This has encouraged much interest and confidence from investors as Microsoft continues to grow as major brand in the fields of machine learning and generative models.
However, the sharp contrast created by the mass layoffs and the Microsoft CEO’s new pay package did not sit well with the general public. Netizens and media alike have questioned the implications of new innovations being welcomed by the tech industry at the cost of employment.
Amid Lay-offs and a Big Pay Check, Public Tolerance Continues to Wane
It goes without saying that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s commitment towards the brand’s success has been evident in the company’s performance in the market. From winning support from shareholders to making progress in the tech race, Microsoft’s innovations in the AI age continue to be remarkable. However, their achievements are not the only news that have been making headlines. The company slashed over 15,000 jobs in the first and second quarters of the fiscal year. The gaming division suffered immensely as around 3,000 of their employees were eliminated from the company.
According to a Citigroup study this year, around 50% of the S&P 500’s $57 trillion in value is associated with companies that have high to medium exposure to AI technology. For some time now, prominent tech executives, such as Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski, have been vocal about AI potentially replacing human employees.
Then there are big names like Google, Amazon and Meta that aim to direct more investments in AI development. This raises a major question regarding labor-intensive workforces and their vulnerability in the AI era.
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