Nadella’s total compensation for 2014 exceeds $84 million

Apr 20, 2015 09:31 GMT  ·  By

Satya Nadella replaced Steve Ballmer at the helm of Microsoft in February 2014, and since then, he has continuously pushed the company towards a completely new approach that relies a lot more on customer feedback and increased focus on cloud services.

There’s no doubt that Nadella brought in a fresh strategy for the world’s number one software company, so he deserves every single cent he receives from Microsoft.

And according to statistics provided by Equilar in a study commissioned by The New York Times, makes a lot of money for the work he does at Microsoft. Nadella is the highest paid CEO in the United States after only one year with the software giant, with his total compensation reaching $84,308,755 (78,428,937 euros).

Nadella has a base salary of $918,917 (854,595 euros) and received a cash bonus of 3.6 million (3.3 million euros), while his stock awards reach $79.7 million (74.1 million euro).

More money than any other CEO

While Nadella has secured the leading position, Lawrence J. Ellison, the former CEO of Oracle who stepped down on September 17, 2014, makes $67 million (62.3 million euro) every year, while Steven M. Mollenkopf, the CEO of Qualcomm since March 4, 2014, reaches $60 million (55.8 million euro).

In Satya’s case, however, the biggest part of the money is represented by stock awards, while the total cash compensation he receives each year barely reaches $4.5 million (3.8 million euros).

Obviously, that’s a lot of money, but let’s not forget that he’s in charge of the world’s number one software company that powers more than 90 percent of the desktop computers on the globe right now.

And Satya’s mission at the helm of Microsoft is by no means easy. He has to help the company become a more relevant player in the tablet and mobile industries where it still has a long way to go to compete with Android and iOS.

At the same time, Microsoft’s hardware and cloud businesses are now playing a critical role for the company and Nadella is the first one responsible for getting both right in the coming years.