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Microsoft revamps executive pay(Seattle Times, The Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) SEATTLE _ Microsoft is changing the way it compensates its top executives, but details on the new plan were scant Thursday. Most of the company's senior leadership team _ 11 positions _ will get a fixed percentage of an "incentive pool" that could be up to 0.35 percent of Microsoft's operating income for the 2009 fiscal year, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Thursday. Based on the company's latest forecasts, fiscal 2009 operating income will be between $26.3 billion and $26.9 billion, making the pool as large as $94.2 million. However, it is up to the Compensation Committee of Microsoft's board of directors to reduce or eliminate awards based on performance. The plan sets a $20 million cap on the amount paid to any participating executive in a given year. Microsoft is not changing its existing compensation targets for the executives and it does not anticipate paying out the maximum in any one year, according to a company statement late Thursday. "Previously, Microsoft had two separate compensation programs for executive officers, one providing cash bonuses and one providing stock awards," the statement said. "They are consolidating these two separate executive compensation programs into a single program and establishing a maximum amount that could be paid in any one year." The new plan is meant to "streamline" and "simplify" executive compensation "while ensuring continued compliance with IRS regulations." According to the filing, the board's compensation committee can establish award programs linked to "performance periods" of "one or more fiscal years." At the same time it made these changes, Microsoft amended its corporate bylaws primarily relating "to the requirements for advance notice and additional information that a shareholder must provide when making a director nomination or proposal at the company's annual meeting of shareholders." ___ THE PLAYERS Executives participating in a new compensation plan, announced Thursday: _Steve Ballmer: Chief executive officer (given his large ownership of Microsoft stock, Ballmer does not receive equity compensation). _Ray Ozzie: Chief software architect. _Craig Mundie: Chief research and strategy officer. _Chris Liddell: Chief financial officer. _Kevin Turner: Chief operating officer. _Brad Smith: General counsel. _Lisa Brummel: Senior vice president, human resources. _Robbie Bach: President, Entertainment and Devices Division. _Stephen Elop: President, Microsoft Business Division. _Open: Microsoft is searching for a new president of its Platforms and Services Division. ___ (c) 2008, The Seattle Times. Visit The Seattle Times Extra on the World Wide Web at http://www.seattletimes.com/ Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. Copyright ? 2008 The Seattle Times |