So, let’s take a quick 2024 Microsoft/Xbox layoffs count. To bring in the crisp, new 2024 year, Microsoft laid off almost 2,000 employees. Between Activision Blizzard, Zenimax, and Xbox itself, many passionate (now former) employees’ dream jobs were abruptly snuffed out. Meanwhile, Microsoft recently released its regulatory filing. It was revealed Satya Nadella, the company’s CEO, would receive a staggering $79 million in the 2024 fiscal year.
Stephen Totilo’s Game File newsletter went on to explain how Nadella amassed such a substantial amount of money. Reportedly, Nadella’s income is directly tied to Microsoft’s overall performance. “But the vast majority of performance payment comes in stock tied to four or five specific Microsoft business metrics. They can change each year, and payouts are calculated based on an average of how well the various business targets were hit (or missed) over a three year stretch,” Totilo reports.
There are many dry financial terms and definitions I could go over if I knew you wouldn’t immediately click out of the article if I did. But when Game Pass initially popped off? Nadella/Microsoft made bank for that. Now, the company’s growth is centered around “Xbox content/services revenue.” Effectively, that means new Xbox consoles, accessories, and other hardware? Not exactly a priority. Game Pass’ continued growth and Xbox’s recent multiplatform strategy? That’s the ticket.
Microsoft ceo makes bank after devastating layoffs
At this point, what can you say? It feels like this dance goes on, from company to company, endlessly. Right now, there are employees who were laid off in that Microsoft purge who are still struggling to find work. The creatives on the ground directly responsible for all the company’s myriad successes? Discarded. It’s why, for many, it’s not worthwhile to continue chasing your passions in such a cutthroat field.
Though I’ll always love this tortured medium, it pains me to consider the inevitable costs. Students have committed their studies to entering the games industry because it matters to them. Because they resonate with it and want to give to it as it’s given to them. But the reality is that many of those same students are walking into a meat grinder. A machine that will absorb years of their talents to maybe release a game — if they’re lucky.
They’ll spend sleepless nights crunching, knowing the end is just around the corner. If they put in one more week, it’ll be worth it. The broken relationships, the self-neglect, the horde of players who will exclusively blame them for ruining a game over the executives that tampered with their vision. Only to walk into the office, go into an all-hands meeting, and be told “Well, gather your belongings because you don’t have a job anymore.”
the point
Yet, conveniently, there’s always a CEO and their C-suite who, at worst, get to slink off quietly into the night with their millions of dollars off the blood, sweat, stress, tears, and dedication of their employees. Microsoft isn’t an anomaly, however. It’s just another in a long line of companies dining plentifully from the corpses of their forgotten worker ants.
The post Despite Rampant Layoffs, Microsoft’s CEO Gets Over $70 Million appeared first on VICE.
The post Despite Rampant Layoffs, Microsoft’s CEO Gets Over $70 Million appeared first on VICE.
