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It seems that the board's plan was to have the firm's executive compensations voted every three years, though the vote would have only an advisory purpose. For what it's worth, although Microsoft does not offer huge salaries, its executives own shares in the company, which allowed them to earn quite well.

“Given the interest in executive pay, we think it makes sense to encourage more dialogue with our shareholders on our compensation approach,” Microsoft General Counsel and Board Secretary Brad Smith stated, BBC reports. The new measures will be first applied at the Microsoft's shareholder meeting that will take place on November 19, this year. However, the company's board is reported to have stated that it would “consult directly with shareholders to better understand the concerns that influenced the vote,” in case it was a negative one, yet also added that the vote would not have a great influence on its decisions.

Microsoft is not the first large company that needs to offer its shareholders more say in the way workers and executives are paid. Moreover, the Redmond company also stated that it had worked with entities like Walden Asset Management, Calvert Investments, and the United Brotherhood of Carpenters to come up with this plan, as well as with a series of shareholders. Some voices even suggested that shareholders might be offered the possibility to vote for the executive payments each year, or that other measures might also be put in place.

In related news, we learn that Microsoft hasn't seen a good fiscal year 2009. During the period, the company registered a 17 percent decline in profits, mainly due to the fact that the financial turmoil affected personal computer sales all around the world. Even so, reports point towards a 4 percent increase in salary that the Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer received at the start of the fiscal year 2009. The company's CEO has seen his salary going up from $640,833 to $665,883, it seems, and he is also reported to own Microsoft shares that would be worth more than $10 billion.