Microsoft Executive Report Card |
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Microsoft's annual proxy statement, filed yesterday afternoon, disclosed not just the annual bonuses of the company's top executives (down 29 percent overall) but also the performance evaluations used to determine how much cash and stock executives took home for the year. So how did Microsoft's leadership do in the eyes of the company's board? Read on for excerpts.
Steve Ballmer, CEO: Mr. Ballmer’s participation in the Incentive Plan for fiscal year 2009 was limited to a range of 0% to 200% of his fiscal year 2009 base salary, payable in cash, consistent with our past practice and his request that we not award him equity compensation. His maximum award was the lesser of 200% of his fiscal year 2009 base salary or the maximum pool percentage assigned to him; his target award was 100% of his fiscal year 2009 base salary; and the award was payable following the end of fiscal year 2009.
Steve Ballmer
For fiscal year 2009, Mr. Ballmer’s Incentive Plan award was $600,000 which was 90% of his base salary. This amount was recommended by the Compensation Committee to the Board based on his performance appraisal by the independent members of the Board and other information deemed relevant, including Mr. Ballmer’s performance against his individual commitments, the Company’s progress in key product development areas such as Windows and online search, his leadership in expense management which helped to offset the declines in revenue due to the economic downturn, and the financial performance of the Company relative to the 25 largest technology companies (measured by operating income).
Robbie Bach
Robbie Bach, President, Entertainment & Devices Division: Under Mr. Bach’s leadership, E&D experienced strong performance in the Xbox platform, including unit console sales growing at 30%, year-over-year growth of 42% in online subscribers, and development of Xbox’s Project Natal technologies. In addition, there were solid results against our customer satisfaction goals, building key strategic partnerships, and strengthening the leadership of the Windows Mobile division to address slower progress in Windows Mobile. Consistent with the economy, however, the financial results for E&D were below goal, with operating income decreasing by $328 million. Based on his fiscal year 2009 performance, Mr. Bach received an Incentive Plan award of $5,600,000, which was 80% of his target award and 27% lower than his combined cash bonus and stock awards for fiscal year 2008.
Stephen Elop
Stephen Elop, President, Microsoft Business Division: During fiscal year 2009, Mr. Elop led MBD to improvements in developers targeting Office, progress in product development, a slight decrease in Office license unit volumes, and an overall increase in revenue from business customers, despite a difficult IT spending environment. The financial results for the Microsoft Business Division were below goal, with revenue decreasing by $35 million and operating income decreasing 2%. Based on his fiscal year 2009 performance, Mr. Elop received an Incentive Plan award of $4,200,000, which was 60% of his target award and 45% lower than his annualized combined cash bonus and stock awards for fiscal year 2008.
Chris Liddell
Chris Liddell, Chief Financial Officer: Mr. Liddell helped lead company-wide efforts focused on cost reduction and greater efficiency that resulted in an approximately $3 billion reduction in expenses from our original fiscal year 2009 plan. Mr. Liddell’s contributions helped offset the impact of the worldwide economic downturn on Microsoft’s financial results, which included a 3% decrease in revenue and 9% decrease in operating income. Based on his fiscal year 2009 performance, Mr. Liddell received an Incentive Plan award of $2,975,000, which was 70% of his target award and 30% lower than his combined cash bonus and stock awards for fiscal year 2008.
Kevin Turner
Kevin Turner, Chief Operating Officer: Mr. Turner led his organization to strong results against our customer satisfaction goals. He helped increase internal efficiency through cost control efforts, including reductions in sales and marketing expenses. He also maintained the renewal rate of key accounts and led the creation of a new retail strategy. Under Mr. Turner’s leadership, Microsoft outperformed the market in 11 of Microsoft’s 13 global sales geographic regions. Microsoft’s revenues from the OEM channel, however, declined 16%. In the wake of the economic downturn, the financial results for the sales, marketing, and services organization were below goal, with net revenue and contribution margin each declining 3%. Based on his fiscal year 2009 performance, Mr. Turner received an Incentive Plan award of $4,760,000, which was 68% of his target award and 40% lower than his combined cash bonus and stock awards for fiscal year 2008.
The company is required to disclose compensation information for its CEO, CFO, and its three other highest-paid executives. Not included in yesterday's filing were Steven Sinofsky, Windows president; Qi Lu, Online Services president; and Bob Muglia, Server & Tools president.
Todd Bishop is co-founder and managing editor of TechFlash. He has covered Microsoft and the technology industry for more than five years, most recently as a daily newspaper reporter and blogger based in Seattle.
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