Microsoft CEO's pay will be tied to Xbox more than ever in 2025

An annual revision to how Satya Nadella is paid makes growth in Xbox games and services (not hardware) more lucrative for him

Activision and Microsoft’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

CEOs of publicly traded companies usually receive most of their annual compensation through cash and stock that is tied to how the company performs in certain ways.

For example, the CEO of Exxon, who made $36.9 million last year, has some of his pay tied to the company’s “energy transition.”

The CEO of John Deere, who made $26.7 million last year, has some of his pay tied to the “operating return on sales.” It’s best not to sell all those trucks and tractors at a loss. 

Executives at Meta are tasked with admittedly unmeasurable performance goals such as the the exhortation to “build awesome things” and “go out and tell our story.”

But some companies are more specific, including Microsoft, which announced revised performance criteria for their top executives yesterday in the company’s annual proxy filing to shareholders. 

If you’re reading Game File (you are!), you might be interested in knowing that Xbox—specifically revenue from content and services; not hardware—is set to be a bigger part of senior Microsoft execs’ performance pay targets in 2025 than it has been in years.