Microsoft hands out 37 million shares in bonuses

[ben2ong2]

No. 1 software maker Microsoft on Thursday awarded restricted stock worth $951 million, based on its current share price, as performance bonuses to some 900 executives and managers.

The shares were given to reward work during the past three years as part of a program Microsoft's board adopted in 2003, when the software giant stopped awarding stock options to employees.

Jeff Raikes, president of Microsoft's business division, got the biggest award--875,334 shares of restricted stock, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Kevin Johnson, co-president of the platforms and services division, got the second-largest award at 703,259 shares. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and Chief Executive Steve Ballmer did not receive any restricted shares.

Altogether, the company handed out some 37 million shares of restricted stock--a third of which vested immediately. The rest of the shares will vest in two installments in the next two years. Shares in Microsoft fell 10 cents Thursday to $25.70.

James Cash, a Microsoft director who sits on the board's compensation committee, said in a statement that the awards were set using "measurable criteria" to evaluate job performance and that their size was in line with industry practices.