Microsoft Gaming laid off over 2,500 workers this year, but it still found enough spare change to give its CEO a $79 million bonus

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella received a $79.1 million compensation package despite the company laying off nearly 2,500 employees in its gaming division, including 650 workers in its Xbox division, leading to criticism about prioritizing AI investments over employee retention and game development.

Microsoft laid off more than 2,500 people working in its games division this year, but the trillion dollar company still scrounged together enough spare change under the couch to give its CEO an even bigger bonus. 

In its most recent regulatory filing from last week, Microsoft revealed that CEO Satya Nadella's total compensation for the 2024 fiscal year amounted to $79.1 million. Most of that money comes from performance-based stock awards, however, as the executive's base salary stayed the same, sitting at$2.5 million, and his cash bonus came to a still-whopping $5.2 million. 

What's more surprising, at least in these gamified lands, is that Nadella's compensation is actually 62% higher than last year's $48.5 million package. For a company that laid off 1,900 Xbox and Activision Blizzard employees, then shut down a handful of beloved, seemingly successful game studios without any clear reason, and then laid off a further 650 workers in its games division - you'd be forgiven for thinking Microsoft was implementing cost-cutting measures because it absolutely needed to. 

Where's all this extra money coming from then? Well, Microsoft just reached an eye-watering market cap of $3 trillion for the first time this year, mainly due to its investments in AI and how it continues to dominate workplace software. The people love Excel, I guess. Of course, Nadella's bonus wouldn't have funded those laid off employee's salaries for too long, and some  layoffs are to be expected after an acquisition as beefy as the Activision Blizzard deal, but it's still frustrating that Microsoft won't use some of its new AI money for good - to keep people employed and create interesting art, say. 

For now, look forward to the new games of 2024 and beyond.