Satya Nadella's Compensation Hits $96.5 Million as Microsoft Grows

Satya Nadella saw his total compensation increase from $18 million in 2015 to $96.5 million by the end of fiscal 2025. This growth was primarily driven by performance stock units, coinciding with a 942% surge in Microsoft's share price over the same period.

The financial gains follow a "mobile first, cloud first" strategy that pushed Azure cloud revenue past $100 billion in fiscal 2026. Microsoft's market capitalization expanded to over $3.6 trillion, supported by the integration of Copilot AI into enterprise software and an early investment in OpenAI.

In fiscal 2026, Microsoft reported $67 billion in free cash flow. The company also earned nearly $5 billion in net income from its roughly 27% stake in OpenAI.