Microsoft’s top executives earned less in annual pay and awards throughout the fiscal year 2009, the first year ever for Microsoft to have posted a decline in annual revenue. Despite the usual strength of Microsoft, the technology giant has found itself struggling under the weight of the sagging economy.
 
According to Microsoft, the fiscal year ended in June saw sales fall 3 percent to $58.4 billion, the company’s first-ever drop in revenue. In response to this, Microsoft has announced that it will reduce spending by $3 billion compared to its original fiscal 2009 spending plan, highlighting that Microsoft will take the …read more

As the Securities and Exchange Commission continues to clamp down on unscrupulous Wall Street denizens, Chairman Mary Schapiro has written an open letter to U.S. investment CEOs that warns against using bonuses to compensate brokers. According to Schapiro, such a practice encourages brokers to aim for more sales at the expense of the customer’s interest.
 
In her letter, Schapiro took note of recent news stories that revealed many CEOs using increased commissions and upfront bonuses to hire brokers, warning that such a practice ends up benefiting the broker more than the customer. By giving brokers large bonuses, Schapiro argues, the brokers …read more

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has decided decrease his annual salary to $1 for the year 2010, according to Oracle’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The move will shave exactly $999,999 off of Ellison’s income compared to this year, but fortunately for Ellison, the world’s fourth-wealthiest man, his base salary only accounts for about 1.2 percent of his total earnings.
Other massively wealthy executives have paved the way in the field of $1 base salary reductions, such as Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. According to Oracle’s filing with the SEC, Ellison’s company wants …read more

Just as the financial crisis reached its climax, the public was outraged to discover the unbelievably excessive bonus compensations that many Wall Street executives were taking as the rest of the country suffered. Now, the House Financial Services Committee has approved a bill given federal regulators the power to ban incentive pay at banks and shareholders the ability to vote on bonuses.
 
Under the proposed legislation, the Securities Exchange Commission to prevent any compensation practices that would end up constituting excessive risk. However, the bill still must be approved by the House and the Senate before it gets viewed by the …read more