Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer got a lower bonus this year than last year's, partly because of flat sales of Windows and his failure to ensure that the company provided a choice of browser to some European customers.
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 Securities and Exchange Commission.
His salary -- low by U.S. corporate standards -- remained essentially flat at $685,000.
Ballmer is ranked No. 19 on the Forbes' list of richest Americans with a fortune valued at $15.9 billion, mainly in Microsoft stock.
It was the third year in a row that Ballmer failed to earn his maximum bonus, set at twice his salary.
Microsoft's latest fiscal 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.
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."
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.
