2024 has seen two mass layoffs at Microsoft, with 1900 staff laid off in January, before a further 650 Xbox employees were shown the door in September.

Regardless, Microsoft’s shares are up and the company’s market value is now higher than $3tn, as it works to capitalise on the rise of AI.

    • scarabic@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      2 months ago

      Well his compensation is tied to the stock price so it’s not exactly a “raise.” My employer’s stock is near an all time high right now so I’m not complaining about how much I made from the shares I sold, but neither do I consider it a “raise” because it’s not guaranteed to be the same next year.

      • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        10
        ·
        2 months ago

        At my last company, they usually gave end-of-the-year bonuses instead of raises. They were pretty generous, usually amounting to about half of our annual salaries, but it of course prevented us from being guaranteed that level of compensation the following year. That’s why I always describe bonuses as raises followed by pay cuts.

        • scarabic@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          2 months ago

          Yeah pretty much. Everything about it is a hedge. They can pay less if their numbers tell them to. They can lay you off and not give you anything. They can make more cash disappear if they have to. It’s the squirrelliest shit yet they cast it like a gift from god.

        • iii@mander.xyz
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          33
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          2 months ago

          I’m self employed.

          Found out I’m depressed, decided to reduce work to 3 days a week.

          Raised prices to reduce clients. Turns out I now make more, doing less work. It is what it is.

          • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            15
            ·
            2 months ago

            I once quit my job at a software company I really hated. They were desperate to keep me around for the projects I was leading so they asked if I would work hourly for a while. I quoted them a go-fuck-yourselves hourly rate which they immediately agreed to, which made me even more angry about my prior years of poor compensation. I worked under this agreement for about half a year and further improved my effective hourly rate by not working very hard.

  • Ragdoll X@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    16
    ·
    2 months ago

    I would like to propose some changes to that title:

    Microsoft CEO’s pay rises 63% to $79m, despite [because of] devastating year for layoffs: 2550 jobs lost [employees were fired by their greedy CEO] in 2024 [because he wanted more money]

  • Gammelfisch@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    33
    ·
    2 months ago

    Typical and most people in the US view CEO’s as heroes. US income distribution is on the same level as fucking Russia.

    • rottingleaf@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      24
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      2 months ago

      As someone from fucking Russia, people with biggest income in your country are usually first businessmen, second - something else, while in Russia those would be cockroaches from MFA, PA and other thieves, plus a few oligarchs who at some point were among those cockroaches.

      So it may not be as bad yet, but frankly yes, you are giving out vibes of going in the same direction.

        • rottingleaf@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          2 months ago

          I agree, but yours are real oligarchs, while those I’m talking about are a relatively new thing for you.

          Russian-style ones are just blokes from one and the same corporation who chose they want to be celebrities. A façade. They used oligarchy as a scapegoat in the 90s, to avoid lustration while it still could be done.

          • sunzu2@thebrainbin.org
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            4
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            2 months ago

            I see your point. In US our oligarchs run the show. In russia, they submit to the “President” to obtain the position.

  • sunbeam60@lemmy.one
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    38
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    2 months ago

    The board doesn’t care about the number of people employed. They care about the current profitability and future profitability.

    Of course that’s their job; to look after shareholder interests. And the money would move to a better investment if they didn’t.

    It’s the whole system you need to change, if you seek change, not moan about an individual CEO.

    • mynameisigglepiggle@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      2 months ago

      I don’t see how paying him so much is actually increasing dividends though.

      Pay him half as much or find someone else who will do it for half as much

    • SeaJ@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      2 months ago

      Current profitability is up. Profit margins are also up from last year. But I could see investors looking at the lack of any path after the current Xbox and wondering why they employ so many there. I’m sure other areas have also seen some stagnation.

      • rottingleaf@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        2 months ago

        That would be awesome, but would have limited results if there are still a few enormous companies with patent and IP laws preventing competition.

        You can’t have that eternal fight between democratic egalitarian monopoly and competitive jungle. The whole point of civilization is to have both representation and competition.

  • bamfic@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    11
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    2 months ago

    An old friend was one of the people who got laid off in January. Fuck MSFT.

  • reddig33@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    2 months ago

    Thinking of all the cool products this CEO has killed off. I would love to see this company split up so that maybe they could innovate again.