In the face of its first annual sales decline ever, Microsoft paid CEO Steve Ballmer five and a half percent less than it did last year. His total earnings for FY2009 were $1,276,627 according to Reuters, compared with a 2008 paycheck for $1,350,834.

I was actually shocked to see the low numbers. I remember reading some time ago that Microsoft never pays executives exorbitant salaries (here’s looking at you, Bobby Kotick), but Ballmer’s salary is a mere $665,833. That 5.5 percent he lost? It came as a $100,000 cut to his yearly bonus, which was just $600,000 this year. I know it’s ridiculous to talk about this kind of money as anything other than huge, but relatively speaking, Ballmer isn’t raking in the dough. Well, not from his salary anyway.

Ballmer personally owns 408 million shares of Microsoft stock – a chunk of the company worth around $10 billion. That’s where the real money’s at with Microsoft, and even though Ballmer doesn’t receive any yearly compensation in the form of shares, you can bet he makes plenty off what he’s already got.