Microsoft's CEO, Steve Ballmer, did not receive his maximum bonus for the last fiscal year, despite a record year with the company's highest ever sales.
54 year old Ballmer took a bonus hit due to the "unsuccessful launch of the Kin phone, loss of market share in the company's mobile phone business, and the need for the company to pursue innovations to take advantage of new form factors," according to a filing with securities regulators on Thursday.
The filing, reported by Reuters, shows that Ballmer received a cash bonus of $670,000 for the fiscal year ended June 30. Although the bonus is equal to Ballmer's salary, it's only half the maximum bonus payout. The revelation of a curbed bonus comes after a record year for Microsoft increased sales of Windows and Office thanks to two successful new product launches. Windows 7, which has overtaken Vista's market share, has sold over 175 million licenses; making it the fastest selling operating system in history.
Despite Microsoft's success with Windows 7, the company has had a poor year competing in the upcoming mobile and smartphone markets. Microsoft launched two Kin devices earlier this year but canned the project after only three months. Only around 10,000 devices were sold and Microsoft employees admitted to being embarrassed over the failure. The Redmond giant's Windows Mobile software has also been losing market share rapidly over the last few years due to competitive offerings from Apple, Google and RIM. Microsoft has also been widely criticised over its failure to respond to Apple's iPad device. The iPad has sold more than 3 million devices since it was introduced in April this year.
Ballmer's bonus hit the "target award" of 100% of his salary according to Reuters. The CEO was eligible to receive between zero and twice his base salary in bonus.
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