Microsoft boss Satya Nadella has been given a pay package worth $84.3m (£52m), making him one of the top earners in the tech industry.
The total pay package is largely made up of share awards, and most of the payments will be made over several years.
News of the package comes less than a month after Mr Nadella advised women not to ask for a pay rise but to have "faith in the system".
He later apologised for the remark.
In a regulatory filing, Microsoft said the promotion of Mr Nadella had meant it had a chief executive without a major equity stake in the firm for the first time.
Its previous chief executives, Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, both had multi-billion dollar holdings in the company.
"In approving the initial annual total compensation opportunity for Mr Nadella, our board was mindful of both the fierce competition for talented executives in the technology sector and the demands on and responsibilities of the leader of a global organization with the scope and stature of Microsoft," it said in the filing.
Excluding the long-term share awards, Mr Nadella's pay package for this year totals $11.6m.
Mr Nadella was named as chief executive in February, and is only the third chief executive in the firm's history.
Source: BBC News
