Satya Nadella, the chief executive of Microsoft, earned a record $96.5 million in total compensation for the 2024‑2025 year, the highest payout since he took over the company over a decade ago. The jump reflects Microsoft’s rapid rise as a leader in artificial‑intelligence (AI) under his direction.
In a note to shareholders, Microsoft’s board highlighted that Nadella and his leadership team have steered the company through a “generational technology shift” by putting AI at the core of every product. About 90 percent of his pay comes in shares, plus a $2.5 million base salary. In the prior fiscal year, his total compensation was $79.1 million.
The same filing also showed higher pay for other top executives: CFO Amy Hood earned $29.5 million, and commercial chief Judson Althoff got $28.2 million.
Microsoft’s shares have climbed roughly 23 percent this year, thanks largely to the steady growth of its Azure cloud‑computing platform, which now outpaces rivals like Amazon Web Services. Since becoming CEO in 2014, Nadella has shifted Microsoft to a cloud‑first, AI‑driven business model. His early bets on cloud helped Azure secure a leading spot in the global market.
Under Nadella, Microsoft also expanded through high‑profile acquisitions such as LinkedIn, GitHub, and the gaming giant Activision Blizzard. These deals broadened the company’s reach in software, professional networking, and entertainment.
One of Nadella’s biggest moves was backing OpenAI, a then‑new startup. A $1 billion investment grew into a deeper partnership, with an additional $10 billion as ChatGPT became mainstream. Today, AI features powered by OpenAI power almost every Microsoft product, from Office tools to its cloud services.
Nadella was born in Hyderabad, earned an engineering degree from Mangalore University in 1988, and later completed a master’s in computer science at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. He joined Microsoft in 1992 and rose through the ranks before becoming CEO in 2014, succeeding Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates.
Source: ianslive
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