It's been a good year to be a Microsoft shareholder, and an even better year to be the company's CEO.

Microsoft's stock price has risen by more than 23% this year, a surge that's mostly responsible for Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's total compensation increase from $79.1 million in 2024 to $96.5 million this year, a record amount for him.

Nadella, who brings in a $2.5 million salary, hasn't received a bump in his base since 2019. Instead, most of his annual compensation comes from performance-based stock awards. For Microsoft's 2025 fiscal year, which ended on June 30, Nadella's stock awards were valued at $84.2 million, according to a Tuesday regulatory filing.

Microsoft's stock price reached a peak this year of $535.64 on Aug. 4, a few days after the company announced financial results for its 2025 fiscal year. The company smashed Wall Street expectations with strong cloud computing growth and increased artificial intelligence demand.

Microsoft has also flirted with a market capitalization of $4 trillion this year, and at one point was the most valuable company on Earth. Nvidia firmly holds that spot now.

A letter to shareholders from members of Microsoft's board of directors directly pointed to the company's AI push as a reason for the financial success of 2025, and said Nadella and his leadership team have positioned Microsoft as a clear artificial intelligence leader for this generational technology shift."

A third part of Nadella's annual compensation is a cash bonus, which is measured by security, culture and product. Nadella requested a reduced cash bonus last year of $5.2 million after cyberattacks hit the company. He had fewer qualms about his performance in 2025 and was awarded a bonus of $9.56 million.

Microsoft's median compensation, excluding Nadella's, also rose in 2025 from $193,744 to $200,972. But the gulf between his pay and that of the median employees is widening. In 2023, the company had a CEO-to-median employee ratio of 250-to-1. That ratio has grown to 480-to-1.

Nadella has also had to grapple with what he calls an "incongruence" this year between the company's financial success and the souring culture throughout the workforce, brought on by mass layoffs and significant changes driven by the AI push.

Nadella addressed employees' concerns twice this year. After the company laid off more than 15,000 workers over the course of a few months, Nadella wrote in a companywide memo in July that the impact of the layoffs was "weighing heavily on him." During a virtual meeting with employees in September, Nadella said he believed the company could "do better, and we will do better in response to a question about a perceived lack of empathy, according to CNBC.

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