Code/red: Microsoft CEO Awarded $84 Million in Karma

// HAPPENING TODAY

• Yahoo reports earnings and presumably some sort of refreshed turnaround plan as well.
• Another GT Advanced Technologies bankruptcy hearing.

Satya Nadella Introduces Self-Driving Karma

Looks like Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s patience and “faith” in a system that doles out raises when raises are deserved has paid off thanks to the good karma he foolishly celebrated at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing event. For the fiscal year ended June 30, Nadella was awarded a pay package valued at more than $84 million, according to Microsoft’s latest proxy statement. The breakdown: $59.18 million in previously disclosed, long-term, performance-based stock awards; an annual stock bonus valued at $7.1 million; a $3.6 million cash bonus; an August 2013 one-time retention payment of about $13.5 million; and salary of about $919,000. Taken together, that’s about 11 times Nadella’s pay from the prior year. See? No need to ask for a raise.

Google SVP to Augment Augmented-Reality Company’s Board

So that massive $542 million Google-led funding round that augmented-reality company Magic Leap just closed includes a board seat. Google SVP Sundar Pichai, who oversees Chrome, is the guy who’s taking it.

Microsoft Lumia, Now With Less Nokia

Microsoft is updating its smartphone brand for the holiday season, lopping off silly modifiers like “Nokia” and “Windows Phone” to reveal a more polished brand: “Microsoft Lumia.”

Staples May Join Credit Card Breach Conga Line

Add Staples to the list of retailers to be troubled by a security breach. The office-supply chain said late Monday it is investigating “a potential issue” with user credit card data. Staples’ announcement of a possible breach follows similar disclosures from the likes of Sears, Target, Dairy Queen, Home Depot and Neiman Marcus.

Simon & Schuster: Yay! Amazon Won’t Screw With Our Holiday Book Sales.

“Obviously Amazon has a very definitive point of view on what should be done in the publishing business. Those in the publishing world are not totally copacetic with it.” That’s what CBS CEO Les Moonves had to say about Amazon back in July when his company’s Simon & Schuster division was locked in bitter contract negotiations with the retailer. Now, four months later he’s a bit more comfortable. Late Monday, Simon & Schuster and Amazon said they had finally come to an agreement, one with which they’re both “very happy.” Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but in a letter to authors, Simon & Schuster CEO Carolyn Reidy said it gives the publisher greater control of e-book pricing and, perhaps more importantly, guarantees that Amazon won’t interfere with orders of Simon & Schuster titles during the annual holiday consumer binge. Said Reidy, “Our new deal assures that your books will be continuously available for sale at this major retailer through this year’s holiday book buying season and well beyond.”

I Think You Mean Monopsonist Prime

Paul Krugman, the New York Times: “In economics jargon, Amazon is not, at least so far, acting like a monopolist, a dominant seller with the power to raise prices. Instead, it is acting as a monopsonist, a dominant buyer with the power to push prices down. And on that front its power is really immense — in fact, even greater than the market share numbers indicate.”

Attention Apple Investors: iPhone 6 Supply and Demand “Not Yet on Same Planet”

Apple investors overcome by the company’s record fourth-quarter earnings might want to seek a prescription sedative before its next report, because it’s likely to be an old-school blow-out. During a Monday earnings call with analysts, CEO Tim Cook said that Apple — which sold 39.3 million iPhones in the period ended Sept. 27, far more than the 37.8 million that analysts had predicted — could have sold quite a few more. And it’s gearing up to do just that. “The iPhone 6 ramp itself is going great,” Cook said. “It’s the fastest ever in our history. So I couldn’t be happier with it. That said, today demand is far outstripping supply. It’s unclear, looking at the data, when supply will catch up with demand. … It’s clear that as of today, and certainly as of the end of the quarter where you’re looking at the data, we’re not nearly balanced, we’re not close, we’re not on the same planet. But that said, I’m really confident that supply is going to be great.”

But After Ingesting Four Cups of Coffee, Introverts and Extroverts Spend Equal Amounts of Time in the Bathroom

Psychologist Brian Little: “After ingesting about two cups of coffee, extroverts carry out tasks more efficiently, whereas introverts perform less well. This deficit is magnified if the task they are engaging in is quantitative and if it is done under time pressure.”

Off Topic

My favorite “Sound of Music” GIF and “Tuck Me In,” a one-minute horror film.

Thanks for reading. Send tips, comments, Off Topics and pancake apes to John@recode.net, @johnpaczkowski. Subscribe to the Code/red newsletter here.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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