Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella's total compensation for fiscal 2025 increased 22% from the previous year, and the company assured shareholders that he is worth the reward.
Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella's total compensation for fiscal 2025 increased 22% from the previous year, and the company assured shareholders that he is worth the reward.
This year, Satya Nadella received a compensation package of $96.5 million, The Register reports . This amount includes a base salary of $2.5 million (unchanged from 2023), $84 million in stock awards, $9.5 million in non-equity incentive plans, and $196,000 in other benefits.
He deserves this reward, Microsoft told shareholders in a proxy statement. Since Nadella became CEO in 2014, Microsoft has tripled revenue, quadrupled net income and increased diluted earnings per share (EPS) fivefold.
For the fiscal year ended June 30, Microsoft reported sales of $281.7 billion, net income of $101.8 billion, and EPS of $13.64. Revenue in all divisions increased by more than 10% except for LinkedIn, which declined, and Windows OEM and Devices, which grew by 3%.
Microsoft insists that Nadella should be compensated in a way that “encourages his continued leadership and drives sustainable business growth and shareholder value.” His compensation is tied to Microsoft’s stock price, which has doubled in three years amid expectations about artificial intelligence and the company’s role in the field.
“Consistent with this position and contrary to standard market practice, Mr. Nadelli’s stock compensation is provided exclusively through performance stock awards tied to long-term value creation and does not include any time-vested shares. Including his annual cash award, more than 95% of Mr. Nadelli’s total target annual compensation was performance-based. For fiscal 2025, we set a target performance stock award for Mr. Nadelli of $50 million, unchanged from fiscal 2022,” the document says.
Among the key metrics Microsoft highlighted in its latest fiscal year was Azure revenue, which reached more than $75 billion, up 34% year-over-year. The company said it now has 70 regions and more than 400 data centers, adding more than two gigawatts of capacity in fiscal 2025. It also has 430 million paid M365 commercial subscriptions and 89 million M365 consumer subscribers, 1.2 billion LinkedIn users, and 230,000 organizations using Copilot Studio. The Azure AI Foundry agent service serves 14,000 customers. Advertising revenue is $20 billion annually.
Recall that Microsoft laid off 15,000 employees in 2025 — this is the figure as of July. In this way, the company sought to free up more capital for spending on artificial intelligence.
