At Microsoft Corporation’s (
NASDAQ:MSFT)
annual shareholders’ meeting today, CEO Satya Nadella and chairman John
Thompson took center stage to outline how the "mobile-first,
cloud-first" philosophy was paving Microsoft’s path into the future. The
top executives discussed the company’s progress in the Cloud space, the
Windows 10 OS, and the drive toward creating a more inclusive
Microsoft.
Previous years have seen investors question Microsoft about the stock
price, but this year’s shareholders focused on employee diversity, which
has been a hot topic for tech companies. Jesse Jackson, a civil rights
leader and president of PUSH Coalition, praised the company’s policy of
inclusion and fairness, but pushed for an increase in the percentage of
female employees and asked for more chances for women and other
marginalized groups to occupy top positions. Mr. Nadella recently came
under fire for his remarks regarding pay raises for women. However, the
CEO said that Microsoft was committed to promoting diversity in the
workplace. He mentioned unconscious bias training by way of example.
Investors were buoyant about the direction in
which Microsoft was headed under Mr. Nadella, with the stock price
reaching a 14-year high just last month. Mr. Nadella credited
Microsoft’s recent successes to the bold new moves they had made.
Recently, the company has allowed free versions of Office to be used on
competitors’ devices, and gave access to the codes to key software to
developers. The Microsoft CEO’s vision was to become an integral part of
consumers' lives by moving beyond their flagship Windows product and
concentrating on mobile and Cloud platforms.
Shareholders displayed confidence in the board, with all director
nominees receiving a minimum 92% vote of confidence. Shareholders also
rejected a proposal giving investors the power to nominate board
members. However, the company’s pay plan received a mildew 72% vote.
This included a handsome $90.8 million compensation to Mr. Nadella.
Microsoft will maintain its dividend of 31 cents, which will be paid on
March 12 next year to those on the books on February 19.
source:http://www.bidnessetc.com/
0 comments:
Post a Comment