Ballmer Gets Only Half His Possible Bonus

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Microsoft's CEO is routinely chastised for the company's dismal stock performance, but it is unlikely that anyone will complain about his rather modest compensation.

In addition to his $685,000 base salary, Ballmer is entitled to up to twice that - or $1.37 million - as a bonus, depending on the company's performance. However, the board only approved a bonus of $620,000 for the past year - or 91 percent of his "target award," according to an SEC filing. In the year before, Ballmer received $685,000 bonus.

Of course, $600K is nothing to sneeze at, but it reflects a fiscal year that included Microsoft's first ever quarterly loss due to a write-down for the acquired Aquantive, as well as continued heavy losses in Microsoft's online business and the overall operating income performance of Microsoft "relative to 25 large technology companies."

The summarized evaluation, including Ballmer's self-evaluation, considers the factors of:

"substantially completing development of Windows 8 and the new Office suite; successful launch of SQL Server 2012 and System Center 2012 contributing to 12% growth in Server and Tools Business revenue; integration of Skype; progress in introducing new form factors such as Surface; strong operating expense discipline; modest growth in Windows Phone market share; the 3% decline in revenue for the Windows and Windows Live Division (1% after adjusting for the impact of the Windows Upgrade Offer); slower than planned progress in the Online Services Division; the Windows division failure to provide a browser choice screen on certain Windows PCs in Europe as required by its 2009 commitment with the European Commission; and overall solid business performance that produced $31.6 billion in cash flow from operations, an increase of 17%."

Among Microsoft's top executives, Ballmer received the lowest bonus compensation. CFO Peter Klein received $950,000, president for the Office Division Kurt DelBene was awarded $1,812,500, president for the Windows Division Steven Sinofsky got $1,520,00, and COO Kevin Turner topped the charts with $2,400,000. Ballmer's total compensation, which did not provide him with any stock awards for the 2012 fiscal year, rang in at $1,318,128. The highest paid Microsoft executive was COO Kevin Tuner with a total compensation of $10,683,671.

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Wolfgang Gruener
47 Comments Comment from the forums
  • inerax
    Guess his stock is going to have to make up for that.....

    Maybe they should approve a new CEO.... Time for something new.
    Reply
  • bucknutty
    Change is good.
    Reply
  • DRosencraft
    I say give him a little more time. He's been trying to redirect the trajectory of a company that was already heading the wrong way when he took over. At least lets see how he handles the current slate of offerings under his direction (Win8, Surface, etc.). I say give him at least until early 2014 to see what he does. If nothing changes by then, maybe it's a good time to rethink the leadership.
    Reply
  • Meanwhile, back in poorsville, I'm stuck at $30,000.... Bonus? Hah!

    Yeah... There really needs to be regulation is this country to limit how much people can make, or distribute the difference to the people that actually work hard and deserve it.
    Reply
  • boiler1990
    JustPosting52Meanwhile, back in poorsville, I'm stuck at $30,000.... Bonus? Hah!Yeah... There really needs to be regulation is this country to limit how much people can make, or distribute the difference to the people that actually work hard and deserve it.
    And violate one of the reasons we have a semi-free market economy? Why? That's a terrible idea.

    Should we regulate what people do with federal money (subsidies, bailout $$, etc)? Absolutely. But if the company made it, they can do whatever they please with it.
    Reply
  • Menigmand
    Poor guy. My heart goes out to him and his family in this time.
    Reply
  • sardonicjester
    JustPosting52There really needs to be regulation is this country to limit how much people can make, or distribute the difference to the people that actually work hard and deserve it.
    This is the exact kind of mindset in this country that just kills me. Who the fuck do you think you are? What in the world makes you think you are entitled to someone else's earned money?
    Reply
  • knodel12
    Come on people. A CEO is to a company like the president is to America. They only have so much power, and in realistic view, windows 8 and everything else would've came out anyway.
    Reply
  • luciferano
    JustPosting52Meanwhile, back in poorsville, I'm stuck at $30,000.... Bonus? Hah!Yeah... There really needs to be regulation is this country to limit how much people can make, or distribute the difference to the people that actually work hard and deserve it.
    You don't deserve anyone else's money. If you want more money, why don't you go start up a multi-billion dollar company? A post like this deserves far harsher words than I'll be giving.

    knodel12Come on people. A CEO is to a company like the president is to America. They only have so much power, and in realistic view, windows 8 and everything else would've came out anyway.
    The CEO has plenty of power to make the product better. Metro in of itself is an excellent concept, but the execution of it on the desktop/laptop was poor, to say the least.
    Reply
  • "luciferano
    You don't deserve anyone else's money. If you want more money, why don't you go start up a multi-billion dollar company? A post like this deserves far harsher words than I'll be giving."

    Because I'm a technician, not a business man. And I have plenty of harsh words for people like you as well.
    Reply