'Staphylococcus aureus' bacteremia (SAB) is a frequent, severe condition that occurs in patients of all age groups and affects clinical departments of all medical fields. It is associated with a high mortality rate of 20–30%. In this study, we analyzed patient mortality associated with SAB at our tertiary care university hospital, assessed the clinical management in terms of administered antimicrobial therapy, and determined which factors have an impact on the clinical course and outcome of patients with this disease. We collected clinical data and blood culture isolates of 178 patients diagnosed with SAB between May 2013 and July 2015. For this study, bacteria were cultured and analyzed concerning their phenotype, hemolysis activity, biofilm formation, nuclease activity, prevalence of toxin genes, 'spa' and 'agr' type. Overall mortality was 24.2% and 30-day mortality was 14.6%. Inadequate initial therapy was administered to 26.2% of patients and was associated with decreased survival (p = 0.041). Other factors associated with poor survival were patient age (p = 0.003), 'agr' type 4 (p ≤ 0.001) and pathological leukocyte counts (p = 0.029 if elevated and p = 0.003 if lowered). The type of infection focus, 'spa' clonal complex and enterotoxin genes 'seg' and 'sei' had an impact on severity of inflammation. Our results indicate that mortality and burden of disease posed by SAB are high at our university hospital.