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Microsoft CEO receives $1.35-million

theglobeandmail.com — icrosoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer received a pay package valued at about $1.35-million for fiscal 2008, a year in which the software maker's profit climbed despite the troubled U.S. economy.

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  • chicagojack, on 09/30/2008, -0/+97funny how wall st. guys are making 20 times this
    • MacBookForMe, on 09/30/2008, -0/+12Don't worry mate, there are very rare out there who got as much as Ballmer in absolute value:)
      • Stroggoth, on 10/01/2008, -1/+7For all the groaning about Microsoft, they are still healthy, making sound decisions and making new products that are decent. If you happen to be a shareholder, they look pretty good, despite the flat price growth, especially in these times.
    • Schrodinger2, on 10/01/2008, -0/+16Yet Microsoft is a much larger company that operates on CASH.
      • Tomchei, on 10/01/2008, -0/+10There is absolutely nothing wrong with Microsoft CEOs making this kind of cash. If they can afford it, let them pay it.

        However, do not come to Congress asking for monetary assistance to combat 'piracy' as piracy is eating at their profits.
      • therealrico, on 10/01/2008, -0/+10Lets put this into some perspective, the guy holds 4.5% of Microsoft Stock and is worth around 15 billion. He doesn't need the money, and his personel wealth is tied much more to the performance of the company, rather than his yearly salary. For example if he can help raise Microsofts share price to 28 bucks from its current price of 26.71 he would stand to gain roughly 600 million dollars. Which seems like a pretty good year especially compared to the wall street CEO's who are making paltry 20 to 100 million.
      • invader, on 10/01/2008, -1/+5There's a big difference between stock value and income. He would only see that 600M if he sold his shares. If they fell back to 26.71 the following year, he would make roughly $0 on shares alone for those two years. A salary, while much smaller, is cash in hand.
    • SpacePoet, on 10/01/2008, -0/+24No kidding, that is a very modest salary for a massive company.
    • Civil44, on 10/01/2008, -3/+1I'm pretty sure everyone of us would do exactly what these people do, to be in that position, to make that type of money.
    • lazyfisherman, on 10/01/2008, -2/+2Most Wall Street guys only wish they could be a wealthy as Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer.

      Top of the world...
    • gquaglia, on 10/01/2008, -0/+5And half of them are failing miserably. I don't usually agree with MS, but this is sound fiscal policy in a time where CEO's of failing companies get millions the moment they walk in the door.
    • Donwangugi, on 10/01/2008, -0/+3Hmmm, Microsoft, the software company, knows how to better manage their money, than most financial firms.

      Interesting.
  • stark222000, on 09/30/2008, -10/+80he should buy a go-cart
    • whahaa, on 10/01/2008, -1/+7exactly. you can't paint flames on microsoft.
    • theragu40, on 10/01/2008, -0/+8are you implying he doesn't already have one? I'm betting he does.
    • plainOldFool, on 10/01/2008, -0/+3Why, is his dad not his real dad?
    • FredFredrickson, on 10/01/2008, -4/+1No, he should set us up the bomb!
      No, he should can has cheezburger!

      (battle of the memes)
    • LinuxCobra, on 10/01/2008, -1/+1go-kart
    • eitup, on 10/01/2008, -0/+2He should do two girls at the same time.
    • Elranzer, on 10/01/2008, -0/+4This meme sucks.
  • LemonHerb, on 09/30/2008, -0/+77That does seem like a pretty small salary compared to the others in the news. Must mean Microsoft has some business sense, go figure.
    • strictnein, on 10/01/2008, -1/+19Or the guy they're paying is already a billionaire and one of the richest people in the world.
      The World's Billionaires - #31 Steven Ballmer
      Net Worth: $15.0 bil
    • blantonious, on 10/01/2008, -1/+10My thought exactly. At this point would he really care if he even got paid. Dude must just love doing what he does.
    • ICSU, on 10/01/2008, -0/+7He makes profit on his MS shares. This is pocket money.
  • snoogit, on 09/30/2008, -3/+124My God! A smart, fiscally sound company that actually pays it's top executive a wage that isn't completely bat ***** stupid?

    (How much does Jobs get again?)
    • TheUngod, on 10/01/2008, -7/+531 dollar. He makes his money off stock, among other things
      • spritom, on 10/01/2008, -0/+15http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/12/lead_07ceos_St ...

        Many CEOs make their big money off of the "among other things"
      • willdiggforfood, on 10/01/2008, -6/+16You, sir, totally pwned the parent poster. Congratulations.
      • TheUngod, on 10/01/2008, -0/+21Sadly, I didn't want to pwn anyone. I hate Steve Jobs, I was just stating a fact
      • WiZZLa, on 10/01/2008, -0/+7Other things, such as backdated stocks and paying lesser taxes for that $1 salary.
      • iloveliberals, on 10/01/2008, -0/+12In other news, Steve Jobs paid 7 cents into Social Security, which was generously matched by his employer.
      • Kamujin, on 10/01/2008, -0/+4@willdiggforfood Actually, I think he was referencing the "tax loopholes" that Steve Jobs uses.
    • LonesomeFighter, on 10/01/2008, -5/+1Ya but Jobs gets other stuff too like a company jet and stuff, right? granted it's not a huge salary so he has to make Apple grow to see lots of cash.
    • UrbanVoyeur, on 10/01/2008, -5/+3Jobs gets $1 plus some options.
    • naterpoke, on 10/01/2008, -3/+1why shouldnt the head of the biggest company in the world? (i think) not make as much as they want him to make
    • gquaglia, on 10/01/2008, -2/+12Last I checked, Apple was financially solvent company. I have no problem with rewarding successful CEOs with high salaries, its just when these assclowns are given multi-million dollar deals the moment they walk in the door. Jobs deserves every dollar he gets. Had he not taken over, Apple would have been out of business 10 years ago.
      • iloveliberals, on 10/01/2008, -4/+2"its just when these assclowns are given multi-million dollar deals the moment they walk in the door"

        I have a problem with people sticking their noses into other people's business. Don't like a CEO's compensation? Don't buy their products, or their stock. The true price of freedom is allowing others to be free from you!
      • digitalarcanum, on 10/01/2008, -2/+3and the world would've been better off. ***** Apple.
    • Faasnat, on 10/01/2008, -1/+2Yeah... compare to Sun's CEO and how well that company is doing....
    • fluffyturtle, on 10/01/2008, -3/+9Jobs makes a lot, he is technically paid $1 so that he skirts taxes but considering the company buys anything he asks for and pays his bills for everything he basically has a blank check. Normally the downside to this is that you don't have money saved up, to get around this Jobs' stock in Apple is his savings account.
      • sahala, on 10/02/2008, -0/+1I think Jobs probably has money of his own that he doesn't need to use Apple as a savings account. The $1 salary is there for other reasons besides avoiding income tax on salary.
    • thisguy457, on 10/01/2008, -0/+6Jobs gets paid a ***** if you do a legit head to head comparison to Ballmer.

      Ballmer - $1.35 million and no equity
      Jobs - $1 and a over $8.5 million in shares of apple stock as exercisable options - none exercised in fy07.

      http://people.forbes.com/profile/steve-jobs/6608

      Steve Jobs effectively made over 5 times as much as Ballmer did in 2007.
      • daza, on 10/02/2008, -0/+1AAPL shares have dipped $70 in the past 6 weeks (from $180 to $109 today). Steve Jobs has also lost a ***** load more than Balmer has.
  • clsslc, on 09/30/2008, -5/+49Icrosoft Corp? Never heard of them.
    • grumpyrain, on 10/01/2008, -1/+7Don't be so lame.
      He was obviously talking about theglobeandmail.com — icrosoft Corp.
    • OstrakonX, on 10/01/2008, -0/+10It's an Apple subdivision that's making their own version of Windows.

      They're calling it iCrosoft.
    • whittmadden, on 10/01/2008, -2/+4Their biggest competitor right now is an open source operating system called Inux.
  • nichesiteexpert, on 10/01/2008, -0/+38Wow that is a tiny salary compared to a lot of Fortune 500 CEOs.
  • p1eiades, on 10/01/2008, -2/+20No wonder he "LOVES THIS COMPANY".
    • carlskov, on 10/01/2008, -1/+6and his DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS!
    • dalittle, on 10/01/2008, -1/+7Maybe they make Ballmer pay for the chairs he throws.
  • dha07030, on 10/01/2008, -0/+67Good for him... seriously, not even joking.
  • lsmiranda, on 10/01/2008, -1/+38good, he hearned it.
  • brainscab, on 10/01/2008, -28/+2Ballmer has got to go... he appears to have gone ***** crazy inside his insulated kingdom where all his employess fear/respect him...

    he got intimidated by OSX and tried the classic 'overcompensation' thing with vista
    He marketed the Tablet PC to Business users completely ignoring artists.

    And I'm a PC! (use it for me art)

    on the upside they released most of the good things from VIsta to XP:
    IE8
    Cleartype

    now if my programs could use more than 1 gig of ram
    • whahaa, on 10/01/2008, -2/+2IE8?

      hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
    • illDecree, on 10/01/2008, -0/+6um.... cleartype has been around for much longer than Vista

      • brainscab, on 10/02/2008, -0/+1it was developed as competition for osx in preparation for vista, the release to xp was due to vista's delay
    • illDecree, on 10/01/2008, -1/+4and....um... isn't NOT using more than a gig of RAM a good thing? (ie: memory conservation/low overhead/more for ***** you want to use it on/non-bloated apps/the list goes on)
      • liverj00, on 10/02/2008, -0/+2Every byte of RAM not being used is wasted RAM.
      • brainscab, on 10/02/2008, -0/+2not when your on photoshop, illustrator, or any other ram intensive app...
  • spaceshipsix, on 10/01/2008, -11/+6Why can't the author use the % instead of "per cent". That really bothered me.
  • Nintendesert, on 10/01/2008, -1/+46What a loser. He could be making 35 times as much money getting fired from another company.
  • abran1984, on 10/01/2008, -0/+36I'm shocked at how little he gets paid; and I'm not being saracastic
  • HigherAndHigher, on 10/01/2008, -6/+0Must be nice...
  • terrenceisdaman, on 10/01/2008, -1/+27Developers Developers Developers
    • Miche1987, on 10/01/2008, -1/+10Developers Developers Developers Developers Developers Developers Developers
    • davidkeithjones, on 10/01/2008, -1/+4Hes right.

      Now throw a chair in his honor.
    • Stoyanov, on 10/01/2008, -0/+1Web developers Web developers Web developers
      • ethana2, on 10/01/2008, -0/+1That'll be the day they buy opera and have the entire IE team deported.
  • doubleaught, on 10/01/2008, -0/+22+1 Ballmer. I think that's the first time I've ever thought that, but taking such a (relatively) small compensation package is a great move.
  • kernel16, on 10/01/2008, -1/+5That's like one game show win and a somewhat ok performance on another... Hmm, what's going on MS, you're starting to sound reasonable.
  • greeniemeani, on 10/01/2008, -1/+15What? Over 9000 dollars? I wish I could have it that big!
  • PittPanthersFan, on 10/01/2008, -5/+3So?
  • Georgy, on 10/01/2008, -1/+15he might be crazy but looks like he did good, but 1.35 mill does seem a little low, an executive who isnt greedy....rare
    • Gavagai80, on 10/01/2008, -0/+3Consider how much Microsoft stock Ballmer owns. He makes billions. Why hold out for a few million more when you make billions?
  • DrDigg, on 10/01/2008, -0/+27"$3,100 worth of life insurance, disability insurance and athletic club membership fees."
    They may not be getting their moneys worth on that athletic club membership.
    • Elranzer, on 10/01/2008, -0/+5Maybe he just likes the pool and the cocktails.
    • ldkronos, on 10/01/2008, -0/+7Are you kidding? The guy's nearly an Olympic athlete. Have you seen the way he can throw a chair?
  • CarStan, on 10/01/2008, -1/+7how much did Gates get? seems all his fortune comes from the stocks he kept as a founder
    • mm911, on 10/01/2008, -3/+5Gates is paid $1 a year if I recall correctly.
    • Elranzer, on 10/01/2008, -0/+4Gates doesn't get a salary since he no longer works at MS. And it's Jobs that makes the $1 salary (to avoid income taxes, or something).
      • MMaster23, on 10/01/2008, -0/+2and be some supposive world-saving hippy...
  • nastronomical, on 10/01/2008, -1/+11Who ***** cares? He earned it right!
  • bry789123, on 10/01/2008, -0/+9He is a billionaire, thats why he only takes so little. I still commend him on this though.
  • reversevolution, on 10/01/2008, -11/+2but can he run crysis?
  • readme, on 10/01/2008, -12/+2Wow. Balmer only makes 8x what I do.
  • jimmyb3, on 10/01/2008, -3/+1That does seem like a small amount of money for him. He probably received company stock or options as well.
    • tacojohn48, on 10/01/2008, -0/+2Did you RTFA?
      • jimmyb3, on 10/02/2008, -0/+2No, you got me there. My bad. Should have read the article. Mea Culpa.
    • loobis, on 10/01/2008, -0/+5"Because Mr. Ballmer doesn't receive stock or options, his $1.35-million package is slim compared to those of CEOs at other companies of similar size. Oracle Corp.'s Larry Ellison, for example, received a pay package valued at $84.6 million for fiscal 2008, a 38 per cent raise over the previous year."
  • AbsurdParadox, on 10/01/2008, -0/+4This is not news.
  • ozodin, on 10/01/2008, -0/+15Wait he owns 4.5% of the company and it made a 17 billion dollar profit? I am pretty sure he doesn't care what Microsoft pays him for being CEO.
    • fuzzynyanko, on 10/01/2008, -1/+1It's funny that CEOs of companies that have amassed a huge debt are paying their CEOs more. This might be the reason why
    • abw1987, on 10/02/2008, -0/+0That doesn't mean that he just gets 4.5% of 17 billion, though.
  • BoonTobias, on 10/01/2008, -1/+10maybe now he can get some more DEVELOPERS!
    • Mutt76, on 10/01/2008, -0/+3DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS
  • Fallout911, on 10/01/2008, -1/+5That's ***** compared to every other CEO
  • drgonzotx, on 10/01/2008, -16/+0Who to blame for the economic bust......... Senator Chris Dodd, & Congressman Barney Frank just to start.

    Senator Dodd was involved in issues related to the federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis.
    As part of Dodd's overall mortgage bill the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 before Congress in the summer of 2008, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson sought provisions enabling the Treasury to add additional capital and regulatory oversight over these government sponsored enterprises. These provisions were part of the bill signed by President George W. Bush. At the time, it was estimated that the federal government would need to spend $25 billion on a bailout of the firms.
    During this period, Dodd denied rumors these firms were in financial crisis. He called the firms "fundamentally strong" said they were in "sound situation" and "in good shape" and to "suggest they are in major trouble is not accurate". He suggested observers were panicking "There's sort of a panic going on today, and that's not what ought to be. The facts don't warrant that reaction, in my opinion,"
    In early September, after the firms continued to report huge losses, Secretary Paulson announced a federal takeover of both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Dodd expressed skepticism of the action, which the Treasury estimated could cost as much as $200 Billion.
    It has been reported that Dodd is the number one recipient in Congress of campaign funds from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Critics also charged Dodd has ignored repeated warnings that these firms were in need of major reform.


    Barney Frank as Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Frank "sits at the center of power". Thomas Mann, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, was quoted as saying, "He is one of the giants of Congress, a real legislator," in his new role.
    In 2003, Frank opposed Bush administration and Congressional Republican efforts for the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis. Under the plan a new agency would have been created within the Treasury Department to assume supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored companies that were the two largest players in the mortgage lending industry. "These two entities, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are not facing any kind of financial crisis," Frank said. He added, "The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing."
    As chairman, steered the major housing relief bill of 2008 to passage, which aims to protect thousands of homeowners from foreclosure. This law, H.R. 3221, The American Housing Rescue & Foreclosure Prevention Act, was the most important and complex issues on which he worked. Frank was also instrumental is the passage of H.R. 5244, the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights Act of 2008. During the 2008 Session, Frank was instrumental in negotiations for the $700 Billion Stock Market Plan.
    • iloveliberals, on 10/01/2008, -0/+1You should start your next novel with "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."
    • drgonzotx, on 10/01/2008, -0/+0Yeah I'll call it "It was the best of times for Ripping off the poor in the name of the poor" the Senator Chris Dodd Story

      funny how liberals whine when you try to save them from there own doomed programs.
  • AngelTread, on 10/01/2008, -6/+0Jobs only makes a $1 a year from Apple. He is more interested in stock options. No one going to boot him out again unless he decides it's time to go.
    • jerrycurley, on 10/01/2008, -0/+6I love it when people keep bringing this up as if it is something special or original. LOTS of head honchos make only a $1 nominal salary. And many do it with less "perks" than Jobs got originally. And I am not talking about stock.
    • ventralnet, on 10/01/2008, -0/+4Don't be fooled. I am pretty sure the entire digg community would love to only have to report a $1 salary on their income taxes and still get nice ass compensation by other means.
  • Fishn2, on 10/01/2008, -12/+6***** you, Two of my friends died running Microsoft.
    • pathouston22, on 10/01/2008, -4/+2***** you, you're an idiot.
    • davidkeithjones, on 10/01/2008, -2/+8***** you! Have a go-cart.
    • jerrycurley, on 10/01/2008, -1/+3For your own good...it is over. The joke is not funny anymore.
      • jcharak58, on 10/01/2008, -1/+5***** you... two of my friends died from jokes that weren't funny anymore
    • iloveliberals, on 10/01/2008, -0/+1F U ! I'M A PC!
  • Rhythmicidea, on 10/01/2008, -0/+3Seems like a small sum considering recent events.
  • hansolo, on 10/01/2008, -1/+11This is how CEOs should be paid - with bonus compensation tied into performance and no golden parachutes.

    Salary should be reasonable - around 20 to 30x the average full time employee salary.
    Not the 200x we are seeing nowadays

    Not that I'm advocating laws to deal with this. Just that corporate governance need to be improved somehow to ensure CEOs do not rip off companies like Home Depot CEO a while back.



    • jerrycurley, on 10/01/2008, -1/+3Why? Because you think so? what are your qualifications that allow you to definitively state that a good CEO contributes only 20 times as much as an average worker?
    • iloveliberals, on 10/01/2008, -0/+1What about elite hollywood actors? What about Seth McFarland? WHAT ABOUT OPRAH?!?!?!?
    • vault, on 10/01/2008, -0/+1The stockholders as a whole should always be the ones who decide it; it should always be up to the actual owners and not anyone else who have a say in that. Not that it matters in this case considering how much of the company he owns.
  • knigitz, on 10/01/2008, -1/+0This is what happens when your company is globally traded.
  • Torley, on 10/01/2008, -0/+7I can see Ballmer going: "WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" right now.

    How many other CEOs of such a public and prominent company are able to have such visible fun? Here's why I admire him: http://torley.com/why-i-admire-steve-ballmer
  • mserna23, on 10/01/2008, -0/+7Microsoft is still pretty successful despite and Apple's and Google's emergence in the tech industry. It's the CEOs and corrupted leadership in unsuccessful companies who make the big $$$ are the ones to be disgusted about.
    • Gavagai80, on 10/01/2008, -0/+3Despite? Google makes software that enhances the value of Microsoft's OS (it's not like Microsoft used to make online ad money, they just decided it'd be a nice new business to get into after watching google), and Microsoft sells MS Office for Apple computers while Apple helps prevent future antitrust lawsuits.
  • ProUSADigger, on 10/01/2008, -0/+2Well, good for him. That should give us all hope that it is achievable. The American Dream is still alive.

  • lazyfisherman, on 10/01/2008, -4/+1Lol.. Ballmer's a billionaire many, many times over. He makes millions in interest (equivalent to the salaries of some of the greediest CEOs) in one month.
    • pantone287, on 10/01/2008, -2/+0let the stock market do that dead cat bounce a few more times. he won't be a billionaire for much longer.
    • vectorz, on 10/01/2008, -0/+3"LOL", you're missing the point. Ballmer is a billionaire because he runs a SUCCESSFUL practice which actually generates massive PROFIT and create products that in the least provide productivity to our society. CEOs of these other companies such as financial institutions did not provide any productivity whatsoever. They created vapor and with it destroyed the economy. Why even compare them?
  • nazimjamil, on 10/01/2008, -3/+2Good on him! He deserves it!
  • sickb13, on 10/01/2008, -0/+2i think that's a perfectly reasonable bonus for him. Hedge fund assholes makes 100s of millions in bonuses and commissions and they don't have half the responsibility he does. He leads Microsoft, and it in incredibly impressive what the stock has done this year despite troubles with vista, and the rise of Mac as a desktop platform.
  • macslut, on 10/01/2008, -1/+3This is what scares me about Steve Ballmer. It's not about the money. And he's certainly not a visionary or innovator. I use those terms loosely, but certainly Bill Gates and Steve Jobs weren't in it for the money either, but for their visions and desire to develop, create, and change things. This is what's so amazing about Bill Gates. It's like Microsoft, done that, now it's the foundation work.

    But I don't get what drives Ballmer, other than the desire to conquer. I suppose it's good that this can be directed towards corporate ambition and capital gain, as opposed to conquering countries.
  • rodon, on 10/01/2008, -0/+4This salary seems appropriate for a world-class chair tosser and CEO of one of the largest software companies in the world.
  • jmpeagle, on 10/01/2008, -1/+1i thought this had to be a typo, I thought for sure his compenation would have had to have been 1.35 billion. Why does he get paid so little?
  • fuzzynyanko, on 10/01/2008, -0/+2I have to say that this is fair. It's not uncommon to have an experienced software engineer get $100k/year or more at his company.
  • MMaster23, on 10/01/2008, -0/+3This really is nothing .. Steve Ballmer rearly gets more than 1 million bonus. He really earns his money .. I believe he makes a few 100k / year so this optional bonus is a real reward. The man really really works his ass of for the company he so deeply loves.

    I love his passion .. don't love his methods that much from time to time (shouting, armpits, chairs etc haha).
    Give the guy credit .. he's doing a great job and he deserves it.

    (Compare it to the 10+, 50+, 100+ or even 150++ million bonusses other CEO's get...)
    • ErickStevenson, on 10/02/2008, -0/+1I agree hate him or love him he does a lot to promote Microsoft in his own crazy way.
  • MrViklund, on 10/01/2008, -1/+3He deserves it. Stop complaining.
  • Tehrab, on 10/01/2008, -0/+1Meh, my personal ideology is more in line with this: http://www.theonion.com/content/node/27698
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