Microsoft paid five top executives $56 million in fiscal 2016. That includes CEO Satya Nadella's annual compensation, which dropped 3.3 percent to $17.7 million this year.

Nadella received $5.66 million in combined salary and bonus, as well as a $12 million stock award, according to a preliminary proxy statement filed Monday. Half of the shares will vest in 2018, depending on Microsoft's performance, Bloomberg reports; the remainder will vest in full by 2019 if Nadella remains in the job.

Nadella was named the third CEO of Microsoft in February 2014, taking the reins from Steve Ballmer, who announced plans to step down as CEO in August 2013. During his 22 years with the company, Nadella most recently served as executive president of Microsoft's cloud and enterprise group.

During his first fiscal year as chief, Nadella earned $11.6 million—a $918,000 salary, $3.6 million annual cash bonus, and $7.1 million yearly stock award.

Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood, meanwhile, earned $10.4 million. Executive Vice President of Business Development Margaret Johnson got $6.7 million. Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith took home $8.6 million, and COO B. Kevin Turner scored $13 million.

Meanwhile, Redmond on Monday announced plans to offer Azure, Office 365, and Dynamics 365 from multiple data centers in France, expected to open next year. They join those hubs recently announced in the UK and Germany, as well as established centers in Australia, Brazil, China, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, and the US.

"We continue to invest heavily in cloud infrastructure to meet the growing demand from European customers and partners," Nadella said in a statement. "Building a global, trusted, intelligent cloud platform is core to our mission to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more."

Further Reading

Business Reviews