Microsoft Ceo's Bonus Trimmed For Windows, Browser Misstep

[aragorn]

[size=5][color=#000000][font=arial, helvetica, sans](Reuters) - Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer got a lower bonus than last year's, partly for flat sales of Windows and his failure to ensure that the company provided a choice of browser to some European customers.[/font][/color]
[color=#000000][font=arial, helvetica, sans]Ballmer, who took over as CEO from co-founder Bill Gates in 2000, earned a bonus of $620,000 for Microsoft's 2012 fiscal year, which ended in June, down 9 percent from the year before, according to documents filed Tuesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.[/font][/color]
[color=#000000][font=arial, helvetica, sans]His salary -- low by U.S. corporate standards -- remained essentially flat at $685,000.[/font][/color]
[color=#000000][font=arial, helvetica, sans]It is the third year in a row that Ballmer has not earned his maximum bonus, set at twice his salary.[/font][/color]
[color=#000000][font=arial, helvetica, sans]Microsoft's recent financial year was scarred by a massive $6.2 billion write-down for a failed acquisition and lower profit from its flagship Windows system as computer sales stood still[/font][/color]
[color=#000000][font=arial, helvetica, sans]In the company's filing, Microsoft's compensation committee said it took into account a 3 percent decline in Windows sales over the year, as well as "the Windows division failure to provide a browser choice screen on certain Windows PCs in Europe as required by its 2009 commitment with the European Commission."[/font][/color]
[color=#000000][font=arial, helvetica, sans]The company's failure to provide a browser choice in Europe was an embarrassing setback for the software maker, which has been embroiled in disputes with European regulators for more than a decade and paid more than $1 billion in fines for including its own Internet Explorer browser on Windows. It now faces further fines from a new investigation.[/font][/color]
[color=#000000][font=arial, helvetica, sans](Reporting By Bill Rigby; Editing by M.D. Golan)[/font][/color][/size]

[color=#000000][font=arial, helvetica, sans][size=4]Source: [url="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/09/us-microsoft-ceo-idUSBRE8981GF20121009"]http://www.reuters.c...E8981GF20121009[/url][/size][/font][/color]