Microsoft appoints Satya Nadella as its new CEO
Bill Gates with a new role as founder and technology adviser
The speculations around the next Microsoft CEO are over as the company appoints the 46-year old “veteran” Satya Nadella who is taking over immediately replacing Steve Ballmer. Nadella had been number one is the list of potential candidates, despite rumors saying that Google’s Sundar Pichai was also in the race.
Microsoft originally said the new CEO would be named before the end of 2013, but the search and all interviews extended to 2014. However, the timing looks perfect now, as Nadella takes over just ahead of Nokia / Microsoft’s deal closure. The announcement is important as he is only the third leader in the software company in its 38 year history. “Today is a very humbling day for me”, says Satya Nadella in a memo to all Microsoft employees. He says now it’s a critical time for the industry as a whole and his main goal is to ensure the company’s success will continue whilst the technology evolves.
Nadella is veteran, who has spent more than 20 years in Microsoft. Born in India, he moved to the US to study computer science. Before Microsoft, he worked for Sun Microsystems, but later joined Redmond working with online services. His most recent role at Microsoft was as a leader of the cloud business.
At the same time, the founder Bill Gates has stepped down as Microsoft’s chairman and he will have a bigger role in the company spending more time in the role of product and technology advisor. Gates comments its new position saying that “it’ll be fun to define this next round of products working together.” Microsoft next chairman is John Thompson, currently CEO of Microsoft’s Virtual Instruments.
[Source: Microsoft]
