Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s Nadella Apologizes on Harsh Remarks on Women’s Pay

A women’s computer science conference (Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing) was held on Thursday with the aim to celebrate women in technology. During the conference, the celebrated CEO of Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) made remarks regarding women’s pay. He said that it is a good thing that women do not ask for a raise – mostly men do. He said that the women should continue this trend and just have faith in the system; they don’t need to ask for raises.

These comments lead to outrage, causing the stock to drop 2.7% down today. Later in the day, Satya Nadella apologized for making these remarks. In an email to all staff members of Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT), he said that he had been wrong and that he fully supported the programs which are working to close the gender gap in pays.

Maria Klawe, a director at Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) and also the president of Harvey Mudd college, disagreed with the CEO immediately. She suggested that women should instead do a little digging into salary levels and the gender gap and practice asking for raises. Still, on Friday morning, Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s shares fell by 0.15%.

There was a furore on the social media as well, particularly on Twitter. Later, Satya Nadella took the time to tweet that he agreed he was inarticulate in terms of discussing women’s pay rises and apologized for the mistake.

He said that he supported the programs at Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) and other companies in the industry, which aim at bringing more women into the tech industry and closing the pay gap between men and women. He is also a believer of equal treatment of men and women in industry since both invest equal efforts and talents. Satya Nadella said that when women think that they deserve a pay raise, then the best thing they can do is just follow Maria Klawe’s advice and go and talk to the employers.

Earlier this year, Satya Nadella, an Indian by birth, took over from Steve Ballmer as the CEO of Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT). He has aimed at making the company effective and robust. Earlier in this year, he has taken several steps with the purpose of cost-cutting. Under Nadella, the company decided to cut 18,000 jobs which include over 12,000 of Nokia Inc. (NYSE:NOK) that were employed by Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) as a part of an agreement. The jobs will be eliminated in the beginning of the next year.

The changes in the jobs were made in order to make the team more efficient and focused. Many investors have supported the new CEO in his decisions, saying that this is a sure way to reduce the headcount and costs. By 2016, these cost cuttings can potentially add 30 cents to the price of each share. The company was suffering in terms of profit and this is the reason why investors are whole heatedly supporting Nadella’s steps at making the company cost-effective. In 2012 fiscal, the company had made little profit while in 2013, the company faced losses.