Ballmer's bonus slashed due to Kin failure

The failure of the Microsoft Kin phone was swift and epic. I haven't seen a phone fail that fast before. You can bet the failure was felt around Microsoft and CEO Steve Ballmer may have felt the failure in his heart, but it hit is wallet too according to Reuters.

Ballmer saw his nice, fat bonus slashed in the wake of the failure of the Kin and the Microsoft tablet efforts. The bonus was cut despite the fact that Microsoft had its biggest year ever. Reuters report that the bonus Ballmer received was $670,000, equal to his salary.

That is a lot of green for sure, but the bonus could have been twice that amount had the Kin and the tablet efforts paid off. Reuters reports that the official factors for the bonus cut were according to documents, "unsuccessful launch of the Kin phone, loss of market share in the company's mobile phone business, and the need for the company to pursue innovations to take advantage of new form factors."