Chris Liddell takes million-dollar haircut at Microsoft

At a recent Trans-Tasman Business Circle lunch in Auckland, a visiting Chris Liddell spoke about “a global reset” - or how his company was preparing for up to 10 years of sub-par economic growth.

Now, it can be revealed that the Microsoft CFO has already suffered his own reset - in take-home pay.

The Kiwi ex-pat is one of the five Microsoft senior managers whose FY09 compensation is listed in a proxy statement filed with the SEC yesterday (read it here).

Mr Liddell’s base salary actually increased a smidgeon, from $US541,667 in FY08 to $US 561,667.

And his cash bonus increased from $US420,000 to $US595,000.

Share options are where it hurt: Last year, Mr Liddell was granted $US3,828,668; for FY09 he collected $US2,379,982 .

The net result: Mr Liddell’s total compensation for FY09 was $US3.5 million, compared to the previous year’s $US4.8 million.

COO Kevin Turner took the biggest drop in total compensation, from $US8.6 million to $US5.4 million.

CEO Steve Ballmer took a modest hit on his already modest compensation, which fell from $US1.34 million to $US1.26 million.

Don’t fret about how he’ll pay the grocer; Mr Ballmer owns roughly $US15 billion worth of Microsoft shares.

As of August 10 this year, Mr Liddell owned 175,000 of his company's shares, worth around $US4.5 million.

Like insiders as many Nasdaq-listed companies - as has been widely noted after US indexes bull run over the past few months - Mr Liddell has been offloading stock recently. On August 4 he sold 20,000 shares.

For the 12 months to June 30, Microsoft’s made a profit of $US14.6 billion - down from the prior year’s $US17.7 billion as the meltdown saw the company suffer the first sales reversal in its 34-year history.

The news isn’t all bad for Mr Liddell. Analysts credit his tough cost controls for preventing profit slumping further as revenue fell from $US60.4 billion to $US58.4 billion.

And over at the Wall Street Journal’s All Things D site, BoomTown blogger Kara Swisher reckons he has a “jauntily charming Kiwi accent”. That’s more upbeat than Ms Swisher’s last take, during her live Microsoft earnings blog, which was entitled “Glum Chris at the Recessiondome”.