Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella nailed his annual report card — netting him a cool $20 million

• Matt Weinberger
 

• 17h
• 5,635

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images

MSFT Microsoft

 0.00 0.00 (+0.00 %)

DisclaimerGet real-time MSFT charts here »

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella made just over $20 million in cash and stock over the company's most recent fiscal year, after nailing his annual performance report.

Nadella's pay package was revealed in Microsoft's annual shareholder proxy filing, which you can read here. 

Basically, half of Nadella's pay package is based on how well he performs in three key areas: "Product & Strategy," "Customers & Stakeholders," and "Culture & Organizational leadership." Scoring well in all areas netted him a $7,032,406 bonus on his base salary of $1,450,000.

His highest score was in "Culture," where Microsoft's board praised Nadella's signature "growth mindset" philosophy. Under the "growth mindset," Nadella challenges executives and employees to check their assumptions, expect the unexpected, and change their strategy as new data comes in. Nadella scored 145% of his goal in this area.

"The Company widely adopted leadership principles that help its leaders deliver clarity, generate energy, and deliver success," writes Microsoft's board in the proxy statement. 

His next highest score was 125%, in "Customers & Stakeholders." Here, the board praises progress in "the perception of Microsoft as an innovator and as a leader in the cloud." The filing also highlights Microsoft's well-received programs around bringing broadband internet to rural areas, as well as other philanthropic initiatives. 

Last, and least, was his score of an even 100% on "Product & Strategy." The board rated him highly for the rapid growth of Microsoft's $18.9 billion cloud computing business, which encompasses the Azure cloud platform, as well as the Office 365 productivity suite.

However, Nadella was dinged points for the 2% decline in Surface revenue in 2016 versus 2015, as well as the lagging market share of the Microsoft Edge web browser versus the leader, Google Chrome.

The board was also happy enough to award Nadella $11,434,557 worth of Microsoft stock. Add in an extra $97,189 for miscellaneous compensation that includes matching charitable gifts, and it comes out to $20,014,152 total. 

This was actually Nadella's best year as Microsoft CEO yet, at least in terms of his personal fortune: In the previous fiscal year, Nadella took home $17,692,031, with the wind-down of Microsoft's smartphone business hurting his bonus.

Get the latest Microsoft stock price here.

SEE ALSO: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella explains what happened when employees struggled with a gross milk situation

NOW WATCH: Microsoft built tree houses in the woods for its employees — here's a look inside

00:00

01:30

More: Microsoft Satya Nadella

Silicon Valley is struggling to understand Tesla's Model 3 production problems — here's why

• Matthew DeBord
 

• 2h
• 5,178

Robots at Tesla's factory.Benjamin Zhang/Business Insider

TSLA Tesla

 350.89 -4.54 (-1.30 %)

DisclaimerGet real-time TSLA charts here »

• Tesla could be struggling to get the welding right with its Model 3 sedan.
• The vehicle's production ramp has been delayed.
• Tech investors are also struggling to understand the unique difficulties of building cars.

Tesla could be dealing with some new assembly-line welding problems that are slowing down production of its Model 3 sedan, Automotive News reported on Monday.

The carmaker produced only 260 Model 3s in the third quarter; it expected to build 1,500 in September alone and ramp up to 20,000 a month by the end of the year.

According to Automotive News' Katie Burke, "based on details in a Wall Street Journal report and in a video of the production line posted on Twitter by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, experts say the electric vehicle maker appears to be struggling with welding together a mostly steel vehicle, as opposed to the primarily aluminum bodies of the Model S and Model X."

That might sound bad, but it's expected. Tesla skipped a manufacturing prototyping stage for its Model 3 assembly line and now appears to be troubleshooting on the fly, hence Musk's statements about being in "production hell."

A car dealership. This is how everybody else does it.Joe Raedle / Getty Images

More critically, Burke's story contains a telling comment from a venture capitalist and "early Tesla investor," Mark Platshon, who told the reporter in an email that, as far as Model 3 delays go, Tesla was "being careful to get it right before shipping a lot."

The word "shipping" is symptomatic of why tech investors like Platshon are struggling to make sense of Tesla's problem.

Nobody in the car business talks about "shipping" cars as if they were smartphones or software. Cars are delivered or sold — if they're shipped, their put on actual ships and sent to foreign markets.

Tesla is a car company first

Silicon Valley has long sought to rebrand Tesla as a tech company rather than a car company. That fantasy is now colliding with the blocking-and-tackling aspect of Tesla as a serious automaker. Automotive News talked to a manufacturing expert who said the Model 3 welds seemed to show that Tesla was having some issues switching from aluminum chassis to steels ones (its previous cars are aluminum).

Steel is cheaper, and the Model 3 is destined for the mass market, so Tesla has to go this route. And in any case, the company isn't likely to confirm that its welding process continues to be a work in progress.

But welding is a core aspect of building cars — one that the company needs to get right. In the auto industry, it's done precisely and rapidly using million-dollar robots. It's also difficult and doesn't take well to beta testing on production vehicles. And even though software runs the robots, it's nothing like debugging software code for the products and services that tech investors are more comfortable with.

The tech industry is taking a long time to figure this out, and that makes sense. Tesla is the first viable new carmaker that anyone has had the chance to invest in for decades.

And for the moment, it has time and can enjoy investor patience: Tesla's stock is still up 65% in 2017.

Get the latest Tesla stock price here.

FOLLOW US: on Facebook for more car and transportation content!

SEE ALSO: Tesla has a key strategy that helped it soar past legacy automakers

NOW WATCH: Tesla's value is surging 'because the vision is so intoxicating'

00:00

00:58

More: Tesla Tesla Model 3 Auto Industry Silicon Valley